BV  3785  . T4  A3  1923 
Thickstun ,  Edmund . 
Adventures  in  evangelism 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/adventuresinevan00thic_1 


ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 


EDMUND  THICKSTUN 


I 


/ 


ADVENTURES  IN 

EVANGELISM 

/ 

BY 

EDMUND  THICKSTUN 

SOMETIME  MINISTER  IN  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH , 
NOW  A  MINISTER  IN  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL 
CHURCH,  SOUTH 


Introduced  by  the 

Rev.  THEODORE  S.  HENDERSON,  d.d. 

ONE  OF  THE  BISHOPS  OF  THE  METHODIST 
EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 


NEW 


YORK 


GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,  1923, 

BY  LAMAR  &  BARTON,  AGENTS 


ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM.  II 


PRINTED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 


TO 

EVERYBODY 
WHO  IS  TRYING  TO  SAVE 
SOMEBODY 


INTRODUCTION 


No  stories  of  work  in  the  Christian  Church  are 
of  more  absorbing  or  abiding  interest  than  those 
dealing  with  the  turning  of  men  and  women  to 
God.  We  enjoy  reading  of  the  progress  of  great 
religious  movements,  of  organizations,  of  build¬ 
ings,  of  community  projects,  but  the  records 
which  find  the  readiest  response  in  the  hearts  of 
us  all  are  those  which  deal  with  the  conversion 
of  souls.  It  may  truly  be  said  that  evangelism 
is  not  the  whole  of  the  work  of  the  Church  or  of 
the  minister,  but  it  has  such  fundamental  relation 
to  all  things  else  that,  when  it  is  lacking,  the  har¬ 
mony  of  the  whole  is  broken  and  incomplete. 

To  tell  such  stories  is  not  merely  art.  No 
artist  could  picture  such  scenes  unless  his  own 
soul  were  in  sympathy  with  the  subject  so  as  to 
enable  him  to  understand  just  what  were  the 
processes  by  which  the  soul  arrived  at  its  place 
of  transformation.  The  skillful  pen  may  be 
needful;  the  understanding  spirit  is  indispen¬ 
sable.  That  the  writer  of  “Adventures  in  Evan¬ 
gelism55  has  this  spirit  is  evidenced  not  only  by 
the  sympathetic  treatment  of  the  stories  which 


VII 


Vlll 


INTRODUCTION 


his  pen  relates,  but  by  the  work  of  his  ministry 
during  many  years.  He  has  been  constantly 
making  “adventures  in  evangelism,”  and  he 
knows  whereof  he  speaks  because  his  own  min¬ 
istry  has  been  blessed  of  God  in  the  conversion 
of  souls. 

It  is  of  personal  interest  to  say  that  my  ac¬ 
quaintance  with  Brother  Thickstun  came  about 
through  his  reading  a  reprint  of  an  article  of 
mine  in  a  Nashville  newspaper.  From  the  read¬ 
ing  of  those  words  of  mine,  copied  from  another 
publication,  there  was  started  a  train  of  thought 
which  led  to  the  revival  in  his  breast  of  the  de¬ 
ferred  desire  to  give  to  the  world  the  stories 
which  now  find  place  in  this  volume.  God’s 
providence  works  in  mysterious  ways  to  fulfill 
his  purposes.  Since  then  it  has  been  my  pleasure 
to  know  Brother  Thickstun  by  correspondence 
and  to  appreciate  his  endeavor  to  serve  the 
Church  and  the  world  through  his  book.  May 
God  bless  it  as  it  goes  on  its  mission  to  revive  the 
interest  of  pastors  and  laymen  alike  in  the 
supreme  work  of  winning  men  and  women  to 
their  Saviour. 

Theodore  S.  Henderson. 


Detroit ,  Michigan . 


PREFACE 


You  may  depend  upon  the  essential  truth  of 
all  herein  narrated.  The  non-essentials  of  dates 
and  proper  names  are  generally  fictitious.  Char¬ 
acters,  settings  and  events  are  sometimes  compos¬ 
ite,  but  the  parts  from  which  they  are  com¬ 
pounded  are  true.  One  character  in  the  book  has 
the  career  he  wished  for,  rather  than  the  one 
which  he  achieved.  No  effort  has  been  made  to 
remember  dialogue  as  it  was  originally  spoken. 
It  was  easier  to  make  the  book  that  way  than 
to  run  about  the  country  asking  permission  of 
people  to  print  their  stories.  I  can  say  with 
Eggleston  that  the  strangest  things  in  it  are  the 
truest.  If  your  pastor  has  had  twenty  years’ 
experience,  he  will  probably  tell  you  that  he  can 
relate  incidents  as  extraordinary  as  any  here  set 
down. 

Edmund  Thickstun. 


Danville ,  Alabama . 


✓ 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Introduction  by  Bishop  Theodore  S. 
Henderson . vii 

Preface  .......  ix 


CHAPTER 

I 

The  Biggest  Game  • 

• 

15 

II 

Brother  Green  .... 

33 

III 

A  Game  of  Casino  Spoilt 

• 

49 

IV 

Contrasted  Conversions  • 

• 

65 

A  skeptic  comes  across  . 

• 

66 

record  short  time  in  conversion 

74 

A  TEN  YEARS’  QUEST  . 

• 

78 

A  CIRCUS  CLOWN  AND  A  GOOD  BOY 

♦ 

81 

V 

Righteousness ,  Peace,  and  Joy 

• 

91 

VI 

When  Elijah  Failed . 

• 

117 

VII 

Trembling  for  Jesus 

* 

135 

WAITING  AND  WATCHING  . 

• 

140 

DISOBEYING  HIS  MOTHER  IN  THE 

LORD  . 

144 

XI 


Xll 

CONTENTS 

CHAPTER 

VIII 

The  Funeral  of  a  Fiddle . 

PAGE 

.  155 

IX 

Up  from  the  Slavery  of  Lust 

.  173 

X 

Thou  Art  the  Man  - 

.  189 

A  STICKER  ..... 

197 

XI 

‘'Here  I  am,  Mother’ ’  . 

.  203 

XII 

Some  of  Elijah’s  Aftermaths 

.  215 

XIII 

Conclusion  * 

i*  223 

f 


I:  THE  BIGGEST  GAME 


W ould  that  the  spirit  of  our  Methodist 
Fathers  might  come  upon  us ,  sending  us  out 
in  downright  earnestness  to  hunt  down  the 
last  man  within  reach ,  that  we  might  lead 
him  to  the  life  of  Christ. 

Bishop  Anderson. 


ADVENTURES  IN 
EVANGELISM 


i 

The  Biggest  Game 

.  .  And  the  bear  got  a  slash  at  my  left 
cheek,  which  accounts  for  my  wearing  whiskers 
in  this  smooth-shaven  age.”  The  State  Senator 
parted  the  beard  on  his  face  and  showed  an  ugly 
scratch  beneath.  “But  I  got  him  with  my  gun 
held  at  arm’s  length,  and  with  my  thumb  on  the 
trigger,  as  I  drew  it  around  to  stick  the  muzzle 
in  his  mouth.” 

“Bravo,  Coleman.  That  was  a  red-blooded 
man’s  adventure.  None  of  us  have  any  such 
experiences  to  relate.”  Travis,  the  lawyer,  said 
this,  with  a  long  stare  of  admiration  at  his 
friend,  Senator  Coleman,  real  estate  man,  Wy¬ 
oming  booster,  and  in  his  vacations,  big  game 
hunter.  Howbeit,  he  was  a  steward  and  trustee 
in  his  church,  and  a  man  of  deep  spirituality. 

“Well,  now,  as  to  that,”  drawled  the  Senator, 

“I  should  not  be  surprised  if  every  one  of  you 

15 


16  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

fellows  can  tell  something  thrilling  right  out  of 
your  professional  experiences.”  Travis’s  eyes 
narrowed  in  reflection  for  a  moment,  and  then  he 
remarked  musingly: 

“Why,  of  course  there  are  thrilling  moments 
in  a  lawyer’s  life.  I  remember  that  once  I 
undertook  the  defense  of  a  poor  boy  accused  of 
crime  on  circumstantial  evidence.  From  the  tes¬ 
timony  of  blind,  insensate  things ,  merely,  it 
seemed  that  he  would  be  condemned.  I  shall 
always  thank  God  that  I  believed  him  to  be  inno¬ 
cent.  I  worked  night  and  day  on  the  case  with 
the  bitter  thought,  ‘What  if  I  shall  fail,  and  the 
poor  fellow  should  hang  for  a  thing  he  never 
did?’ 

“I  became  so  obsessed  with  the  case  that  I  was 
scarcely  myself  for  a  few  days,  during  the  trial 
in  the  Circuit  Court.  The  evidence  was  dead 
against  me.  When  I  arose  to  plead,  my  mind 
became  strangely  alert.  All  of  the  cases  in  legal 
history  where  men  were  illegally  punished  came 
to  me  with  great  distinctness.  I  cited  them  rap¬ 
idly  without  my  notes.  I  told  the  jury  of  case 
after  case  where  other  jurors  before  them  had 
rendered  verdicts  of  not  guilty  and  had  been 
rewarded  afterwards  by  the  confession  of  the  real 
criminal.  Then,  in  my  conclusion,  I  saw  red.  I 
lost  myself  in  my  bitter  invective  against  un¬ 
seeing  circumstance.  But  all  of  the  time  it 


THE  BIGGEST  GAME 


17 


seemed  to  me  that  I  was  saying  nothing.  I 
closed  in  a  welter  of  physical  perspiration  and 
an  agony  of  spiritual  sweat.  I  could  have  sweat 
blood,  it  seemed  to  me,  if  that  would  have  con¬ 
vinced. 

“When  I  sat  down,  the  prosecutor  leaned  over 
to  me  and  whispered: 

“  'Travis,  that  speech  deserves  to  win,  but  my 
facts  are  too  stubborn.  Your  man  will  hang.’ 
I  replied  miserably: 

“  T  know  it.’  And  that  was  all  I  could  think 
as  the  judge  rendered  his  charge.  He  went  out 
of  his  way,  I  think,  to  caution  the  jury  against 
being  carried  away  by  the  frenzied  eloquence  of 
counsel. 

“Well,  what  do  you  think?  That  jury,  in 
fifteen  minutes,  brought  in  a  verdict  of  'not 
guilty5.  The  prisoner  and  I  sat  staring  at  each 
other  like  two  idiots  for  a  moment.  Then  he 
arose  and  took  me  in  his  arms  like  a  baby  and 
sobbed : 

“  'Mr.  Travis,  you  done  it;  you  done  it.  The 
evidence  were  all  agin  me,  but  you  jest  wouldn’t 
have  it  thet  way.  So  the  jury  couldn’t  see  it  any 
different  from  what  you  seen  it.’  ” 

Every  eye  was  glistening  with  a  tear  drop 
trembling  on  its  brink.  Travis  continued: 

“Two  years  later  the  actual  murderer  con¬ 
fessed  on  his  death  bed  that  he  was  guilty  of  the 


18  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

crime  for  which  my  client  had  been  tried  and 
acquitted.’’ 

Coleman  now  turned  to  Dr.  Connyngton: 

“Doc,  old  man,  can’t  you  beat  that  as  badly 
as  it  beat  my  bear  story?”  The  physician  re¬ 
plied  : 

“I  get  four-fifths  of  my  satisfaction  in  saving 
life  against  seemingly  insuperable  obstacles.  It’s 
a  great  sensation  to  sit  down  by  a  moribund  pa¬ 
tient,  and  say  to  Old  Man  Death: 

“  £Now,  really,  you  know,  you  just  can’t  have 
this  man — not  this  time.’ 

“I  remember  a  lady  who  was  in  the  last  stages 
of  puerperal  fever.  I  felt  that  if  her  own  family 
could  be  her  nurses,  she  need  not  die.  I  told  this 
to  the  husband,  two  sons  and  one  daughter.  One 
of  the  boys  was  nineteen,  the  other  was  seven¬ 
teen,  the  daughter  was  fifteen.  Both  of  the  boys 
worked  in  the  railroad  shops,  the  girl  kept  the 
house,  and  the  father  was  unemployed.  My 
dread  was  the  change  of  nurses  in  the  ordinary 
run  of  neighborhood  ministrations  around  a  sick 
bed. 

“It  was  arranged  that  the  daughter  should 
keep  the  house  and  manage  the  younger  children; 
the  younger  of  the  breadwinners  should  nurse 
the  mother  from  six  in  the  evening  until  nine 
o’clock;  the  older  son  would  then  go  on  duty 
until  midnight;  the  father  then  took  up  the 


THE  BIGGEST  GAME 


19 


task,  staying  with  the  patient  the  remaining 
eighteen  hours  of  the  twenty-four.  By  this  sys- 
tem,  I  secured  an  unfailing,  uniform  treatment 
of  the  case,  with  the  minimum  of  irritation  for 
the  patient.  The  nurses  kept  an  accurate  and 
minute  record  of  the  case,  and  from  this  I  often 
saw  how  to  change  the  treatment. 

“Well,  we  saved  her.  I  tried  to  credit  the 
splendid  nursing  for  the  successful  issue,  but 
those  folks  insisted  that  it  was  all  due  to  me. 
The  fee,  which  was  sharply  scaled,  was  the 
lesser  satisfaction  that  I  derived  from  the  case. 
Those  splendid  boys  and  that  worn  old  father 
caressed  me  with  every  glance  of  the  eye  and  pose 
of  the  body.  She  who  had  wandered  for  weeks  on 
the  verge  of  the  death-stream  was  most  beautiful 
in  her  gratitude  that  I  had  kept  her  until  she 
could  'see  her  baby  waiting  on  himself.’  ” 

After  the  others  had  choked  down  their  feel¬ 
ings,  Coleman  turned  to  Green,  the  minister,  and 
said: 

“Elijah,  we  all  understand  your  case,  to  some 
extent.  We  know  that  you  are  in  the  ministry 
merely  because  you  like  it.  Everybody  believes 
that  you  would  have  succeeded  admirably  in  busi¬ 
ness.  I  have  a  theory  that  you  are  a  dead  game 
sport,  but  that  you  would  prefer  hunting  men  to 
hunting  bears.  Come,  old  sport,  tear  off  a  leaf 
from  your  experience.” 


20  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

The  four  of  them  were  on  their  way  to  Con¬ 
ference.  They  had  boarded  the  train  at  Bar¬ 
rington,  near  the  end  of  the  line,  and  were 
shackling  along  over  a  frontier  roadbed  that 
excruciated  them  to  the  breaking  point.  But 
they  liked  each  other  and  did  their  best  to  offset 
the  tortures  of  travel  by  the  pleasures  of  good 
fellowship.  It  was  twenty  miles  to  the  next  sta¬ 
tion,  where  more  passengers  would  get  aboard, 
so  Green  had  something  over  an  hour  to  talk 
before  they  would  be  distracted  by  other  events 
than  the  bouncing  of  the  coach.  [The  minister 
began : 

“I  never  looked  at  my  profession  from  the 
standpoint  of  sport  before,  but  with  me  it  is  much 
as  the  Senator  says.” 

“I  wonder  if  more  preachers  had  the  hunting 
instinct,  whether  there  would  not  be  more  hunt¬ 
ing  than  sermon-making,”  said  Coleman.  “I 
have  often  thought  that  the  greatest  scandal 
Christianity  has  to  carry  is  the  indifference  to  the 
identical  job  which,  it  seems  to  me,  we  are  ex¬ 
pected  to  work  at.  Some  one  said  that  the  best 
evidence  of  our  faith  is  to  proceed  upon  it.” 
Elijah  added: 

“It  seems  to  me  that  it  is  nearly  impossible  to 
preach  without  at  least  a  general  evangelistic 
aim.  I  can’t  say  that  I  always  have  a  specific 
aim,  but  it  has  happened  frequently  that,  when 


THE  BIGGEST  GAME  21 

I  was  merely  following  the  routine,  I  have  seen 
evangelistic  fruit.55 

“Well,  get  on  5Lije,  and  give  us  one  of  your 
man  hunts,55  exclaimed  Coleman. 

“What  I  shall  tell  you  occurred  when  I  was 
on  my  first  work  in  western  Iowa.  My  circuit 
was  absolutely  new  ground.  The  only  preaching 
places  were  in  schoolhouses,  but  they  were  well 
built  and  well  heated.  My  very  first  protracted 
meeting  was  at  a  schoolhouse  on  Chicken  Creek. 
The  oldest  inhabitant  had  been  there  but  three 
years.  The  tough  element  was  in  control,  but  I 
heard  from  Ben  Draper,  an  old  British  Wesleyan, 
and  my  sole  dependence  for  prayer,  that  a  man 
by  the  name  of  Peter  Cook  had  been  a  class 
leader  in  York  State.  His  house  seemed  to  be 
headquarters  for  all  the  harum-scarum  doings  in 
the  country.  So  I  decided  before  I  opened  the 
meeting  that  my  strategy  consisted  in  capturing 
Cook  for  God. 

“On  the  first  night  of  the  meeting,  I  went  home 
with  him.  He  was  very  nice  and  fished  out  a 
beautiful  family  Bible  from  the  bottom  of  a 
trunk.  I  began  to  admire  the  luxurious  binding 
and  numerous  illustrations.  I  remarked: 

“  ‘You  have  just  bought  this  Book,  Brother 
Cook.5 

u  ‘No,  I  bought  that  in  York  State  more’n 
three  year  ago.5 


22  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

“  Indeed !  Then  you  have  taken  extremely 
good  care  of  it.’ 

“  ‘Now  Parson,  you  know  this  here  country  as 
well  as  anybody.  An’  you  know  Bibles  out  on 
the  table  ain’t  among  our  good  qualities.’ 

“  ‘ So  you  just  bought  this  Book  to  be  a  doing 
—or  maybe  you  got  it  at  a  bargain.’ 

“  ‘Oh,  I  bought  it  sentimental,  all  right,  ex¬ 
pectin’  to  keep  up  Bible  readin’  an’  family 
prayer,  jest  as  my  father  done  in  York  State,  but 
■ — well  you  know  how  it  goes  in  this  country; 
most  of  us  left  our  religion  on  the  east  bank  of 
the  Mississippi,  the  day  we  crossed  the  river.’ 
The  children  had  come  behind  me  and  were  look¬ 
ing  at  the  pictures.  Charles  spoke  up: 

“  ‘Dad,  leave  the  Book  out,  f’m  now  on.  It  has 
a  sight  o’  purty  picters  in  it.’  William  joined  in: 

“  ‘Yes,  Dad,  leave  it  out.  I  didn’t  know  it 
was  in  the  house.’ 

“  ‘It  seems  like  a  shame  to  leave  sich  a  expen¬ 
sive  thing  around,  jest  fer  childern  to  play  with,’ 
said  the  father.  I  replied: 

“  ‘There  isn’t  any  law  against  your  reading  the 
Bible  in  your  family,  is  there  ?  If  it  were  right 
out  here  on  the  table,  you  would  be  reminded 
oftener  of  your  duty.’  Cook  twisted  uneasily  in 
his  seat,  and  countered: 

“  ‘Well,  anyhow,  we  can  have  readin’  an’ 


THE  BIGGEST  GAME 


23 


prayer  to-night,  Parson.  I  guess  the  Book  better 
stay  out  on  the  table.  Be  careful  with  it,  chil- 
dern.5 

“  ‘All  right,  Dad.  We’ll  take  the  best  kind  o5 
care  o’  it.5 

“In  my  prayer,  I  told  the  Lord  how  much  I 
needed  Peter  Cook  in  my  work  there  at  Chicken 
Creek,  and  I  was  so  refreshed  by  the  prayer  that 
I  felt  as  though  it  would  be  a  walkover  to  get 
the  old  wheel  horse  of  York  State  into  the  har¬ 
ness.  But  Pete  was  offish  next  morning.  When 
I  pressed  the  matter  on  him  a  little,  he  evaded: 

“  ‘Well,  you  see,  Parson,  I  think  you  are  too 
young  to  organize  this  kind  of  thing.  I  think  I’ll 
wait  till  the  Conference  sees  fit  to  send  a  man 
with  some  experience  to  this  here  work.5 

£f  ‘Yes,  Brother  Cook,  but  an  older  man  with 
plenty  of  experience  would  require  higher  pay 
than  I  need.  I  think  it  is  important  to  jump  in 
and  get  the  thing  in  good  running  order  this  year, 
and  maybe  that  will  encourage  the  Conference  to 
send  you  a  better  man  than  I  am.  But  suppose 
they  send  you  another  low-grade  man — or  send 
me  back.  Don’t  you  see  that  I  can  do  a  great 
deal  better  work  with  your  help,  than  with¬ 
out  it?’ 

“The  man  fell  silent.  I  felt  tha!t  it  was  the 
part  of  wisdom  not  to  continue  the  subject  in  the 


24  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

presence  of  others.  When  we  went  to  saddle  my 
horse,  I  brought  up  the  matter  once  more.  He 
interrupted  me: 

“  ‘Now  here,  Parson,  I  jest  ain’t  a  goin’  to 
make  the  break  in  this  meetin’.  I’ve  been  too 
much  of  a  sinner  to  jump  right  in  fust  thing  an’ 
try  to  lead  these  here  folks  into  the  fold.  Of 
course,  I  see  the  need  of  it,  but  I’m  so  plaguy 
easy  to  criticize.  I  weren’t  fair  on  you  in  the 
house,  jest  now.  It  don’t  make  no  difference  how 
young  you  are.  Fur  as  that  goes,  my  Charley  or 
Billy  can  git  up  a  revival  here,  if  the  Lord  sees 
fit  to  use  ’em.  Fact  is,  the  little  shavers  had  me 
nigh  a  shoutin’  last  night,  when  they  axed  me  to 
leave  the  Bible  out  on  the  table.  But  I  hev  led 
this  here  Valley  dancin’,  playin’  cards,  drinkin’, 
cussin’,  and  I  jest  nachelly  got  too  much  respect 
fer  the  feelin’s  of  the  people  to  start  up  the  re¬ 
ligious  game.’ 

“Well,  I  could  see  nothing  else  to  do,  but  to 
go  quietly  ahead  on  my  visiting  round.  Cook 
came  to  the  meeting  every  night,  but  sat  in  one 
of  the  farther  corners.  As  I  shook  hands  with 
him  at  the  close  of  every  service,  I  always  told 
him  that  I  was  praying  for  him,  but  he  never,  by 
word  or  motion,  told  me  to  go  on  praying. 

“Of  course,  you  can  fancy  that  I  began  to  near 
the  end  of  my  resources.  I  had  not  been  con¬ 
verted  a  year,  and,  although  I  had  been  reared 


THE  BIGGEST  GAME 


25 


a  Christian,  I  had  been  astray  for  several  years 
previous  to  my  reclamation.  I  had  no  books 
except  the  Bible,  the  Discipline,  and  the  Hymn 
Book  along  with  me.  My  Bible  had  a  very 
useful  index  in  it,  with  which  I  could  make  ser¬ 
mons  of  a  sort.  Poor  old  Ben  Draper  got  into 
a  very  agony  for  the  salvation  of  the  people.  He 
took  to  going  very  early  to  the  schoolhouse,  and 
after  making  the  fire,  he  knelt  in  prayer  near  the 
teacher’s  desk,  and  remained  on  his  knees  until 
my  arrival.  This  was  the  only  thing  that  kept 
the  youngsters  from  tearing  down  the  house. 

“A  dance  or  two  had  been  announced,  but, 
although  no  one  had  yet  professed  religion,  the 
dances  failed  to  draw  the  crowd.  After  nearly 
two  weeks,  the  only  encouraging  thing  I  could 
note,  in  taking  stock  of  my  progress,  was  the  con¬ 
tinued  heavy  attendance,  much  of  it  from  ten 
miles  away.  The  moon  was  going  to  full  that 
night,  and  the  snow,  eighteen  inches  deep,  was 
alluring  for  the  sleighs.  I  was  expecting  a  very 
large  crowd,  but  on  that  morning  I  had  no  idea 
whatever  of  what  I  would  say  to  the  people  that 
night.  I  did  not  know  that,  spiritually  speaking, 
an  earthquake  was  rumbling  beneath  me.  I  felt 
sorely  in  need  of  human  help  and  sympathy.  So 
I  made  for  Peter  Cook’s  house.  He  was  digging 
a  well.  I  rode  to  the  mouth  of  the  well,  and 
said: 


26  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

“  ‘Brother  Cook,  I  have  come  to  you  for  advice 
and  help.  I  am  just  about  at  the  end  of  my  row.’ 

“  ‘Run  out  o’  sermon  timber,  eh?  Go  put 
your  horse  up,  an’  come  here,  an  I’ll  give  you  a 
text,  an’  a  idee  of  how  to  preach  it.’ 

“I  was  shortly  standing  on  the  brink  of  the 
well  and  looking  down  at  him.  He  was  six  feet 
below  the  surface,  and  had  reached  ‘hard-pan,’  a 
tough  stratum  which  seemed  to  extend  pretty 
well  over  the  country.  He  could  get  only  a  very 
little  of  it  on  the  point  of  his  pick  at  each  blow. 
He  went  right  on  digging,  while  he  talked. 

“  ‘This  here  text  is  in  ’Zekiel,  thirty-third 
chapter  and  Seventh  verse.  I  heerd  a  old  min¬ 
ister  preach  it  when  I  was  a  boy,  an’  it  is  jest 
four  words:  “Why  will  ye  die?”  That  old 
preacher  took  one  word  at  a  time.  But  he  took 
the  last  word  fust.  He  read  “die”  to  mean  hell. 
“Ye”  means  everybody.  “Will”  throws  respon¬ 
sibility  on  men.  “Why”  means  “What’s  the 
reason?”  ’  ” 

I  thanked  him  for  the  text  and  outline,  and 
told  him  that  I  would  use  it.  Then  I  said: 

“  ‘Brother  Cook,  it’s  simply  awful  that  you 
don’t  come  out  fully  on  the  Lord’s  side  and  help 
me  in  this  work.  How  much  you  have  helped 
me  here,  in  just  a  moment’s  time !’  He  was  silent 
for  a  long  while,  and  I  could  think  of  nothing 
further  to  say,  so  I  was  silent  also.  Then  he 


THE  BIGGEST  GAME  27 

lifted  his  pick,  pulled  a  small  piece  of  clay  from 
it,  and  said: 

“  'Looks  like  I’ll  never  git  through  this  hard- 
pan.  I  been  a  peckin’  away  at  it  all  mornin’,  an’ 
nothin’  done  yet.’ 

“Looks  like  I’ll  never  get  through  the  tough 
hard-pan  around  your  heart.  I’ve  been  pecking 
away  at  it  for  nearly  two  weeks,  and  nothing 
done  yet.’ 

“Then  he  looked  up  at  me.  His  eyes  were  red 
with  weeping,  and  his  cheeks  were  tear-sodden. 
His  voice  was  husky  as  he  said: 

“  '  ’Lijey,  you  pecked  through  to  my  heart 
more’n  a  week  ago.’ 

“The  next  second  I  wras  down  in  the  well,  and 
we  had  clinched.  I  was  praising  God,  and  he 
was  crying  and  laughing  both  at  once.  When 
the  frenzy  of  our  feelings  had  passed,  I  said: 

“  'Now,  Pete,  you  must  help  me  out  to-night. 
I  just  won’t  be  put  off  any  longer.’ 

“  'All  right,  ’Lije.  You  can  ask  anything  you 
want  of  me.  Now  go  to  your  room  and  study 
that  sermon.’ 

“That  sermon  nearly  preached  itself.  At  the 
close,  I  said: 

“  'Now  I’ve  been  asking  you  to  this  altar  every 
night.  No  one  has  ever  come.  There  is  scarcely 
a  person  in  this  house,  who  has  arrived  at  the 
years  of  accountability,  who  does  not  know  that 


28  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

to  continue  as  he  is  going  will  bring  him  to  death 
eternal.  Turn  ye;  turn  ye;  for  why  will  ye  die?’ 
The  people  arose  and  began  to  sing: 

“  ‘Sinners,  turn,  why  will  ye  die?’ 

“Just  then  Pete  Cook  started  down  the  aisle 
from  the  northeast  corner.  And  he  came  preach¬ 
ing.  He  was  torrential  in  his  words: 

“  ‘Come  on,  neighbors,  come  on.  I’ve  led  you 
toward  the  devil  as  long  as  I  intend  to.  Come 
on,  and  let’s  get  back  to  God.  Right  here  at  this 
mourner’s  bench,  down  in  the  dust,  is  where  we 
belong.  Some  of  us  are  mighty  bad — I’m  the 
cussedest  one  of  all.  Lots  of  us  are  old  church 
members,  but  we  must  start  down  here  at  this 
altar.’  Just  then,  he  reached  the  altar  and  fell 
on  his  knees.  He  started  praying  for  salvation. 
Down  on  one  side  of  him  fell  his  wife,  and  on 
the  other  Jim  Grimm,  his  nearest  neighbor,  and, 
down  to  that  moment,  his  bitter  enemy.  And 
they  all  started  praying  at  once. 

“The  crowd  surged  forward,  and  instantly  the 
space  around  the  speaker’s  desk  was  crowded  with 
kneeling  penitents.  In  just  a  moment,  Mrs. 
Cook  and  Mrs.  Grimm  arose,  almost  together,  and 
embraced  each  other  in  an  ecstasy  of  feeling. 
The  last  time  before  that  in  which  their  bodies 
had  touched  each  other  was  more  than  a  year 
before,  when  each  had  tried  to  scalp  the  other. 


THE  BIGGEST  GAME 


29 


A  little  while  afterwards  Grimm  arose,  happy  as 
an  angel.  He  grabbed  me,  and  came  near  ending 
the  meeting  right  there,  by  nearly  squeezing 
the  life  out  of  me.  He  then  rushed  to  Cook,  and 
falling  again  by  his  side,  began  praying  for  his 
erstwhile  enemy  with  such  extraordinary  fervor 
that  Cook  was  shortly  up  and  shouting. 

“Then  it  was  truly  good  to  see  those  four  peo¬ 
ple  go  to  work  with  the  other  penitents.  And 
until  ten  o’clock,  it  was  one  jubilee  after  another 
over  some  one  who  had  struggled  through  to 
happiness.” 

Elijah  had  finished.  Coleman  spoke  first: 

“  ’Lije,  I’d  rather  be  able  to  tell  that  story 
than  all  the  bear  yarns  I  know.  I  wonder  why 
we  don’t  have  such  times  nowadays?” 

“What  do  you  mean,  Senator?” 

“I  mean  what  I  say.  At  our  meetings  in  Bar¬ 
rington  we  live  in  mortal  dread  that  some  one 
will  do  something  elemental.  We  have  a  quiet, 
genteel  solo  or  some  other  innocuous  music;  a 
well-prepared  sermon,  strong  enough,  generally, 
but  delivered  with  extreme  propriety;  decision 
cards  are  passed  in  a  hushed  stillness;  minister 
prays  an  able  but  soothing  prayer — nobody 
harmed  or  helped  much  by  it;  more  nice  music; 
doxology;  benediction;  good-night;  come  again. 
Meantime,  here  is  this  nicotine-soaked,  boot¬ 
legging,  shimmy-dancing,  divorce-hunting,  bood- 


30  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

ling,  grafting,  gambling,  bedeviled,  hell-bent  old 
world  running  like  a  scared  dog  toward  damna¬ 
tion.  In  the  old  days,  the  preacher  and  the  peo¬ 
ple  got  a  double-geared,  back-action,  automatic 
hustle  on  themselves,  and  something  had  to  tear 
loose.55 

“Of  course,  Senator,  just  now  you  have  not  in 
mind  the  Salvation  Army,  the  slum  missions,  the 
remote  country  points.  You  can  see  as  primitive 
revival  methods  in  such  places  as  I  witnessed  in 
my  meeting  on  Chicken  Creek.  Go  to  some  of 
them,  and  you  will  see  all  of  the  old-time  phe¬ 
nomena  of  the  revival.  You  will  remember  that 
I  was  out  to  Buskirk’s  Schoolhouse  for  a  week 
last  winter.  Well,  we  had  an  old-fashioned  re¬ 
vival  there.55 

“Why  don’t  you  get  up  one  in  town T 5 

“Because  the  town  doesn’t  take  its  religion 
that  way.55 

“So  there  are  differences  in  religion*?55 

“No.  But  there  are  differences  in  the  spiritual 
manifestations  of  religion  as  various  as  the  tem¬ 
peraments  of  the  professors.” 

“It  is  a  matter  of  temperament,  then*?” 

“More  so  than  you  would  think.  If  I  had  any 
literary  facility,  I  would  make  a  book  about  that 
very  phase  of  the  subject.  I  could  put  at  least 
a  score  of  outstanding  examples  in  it  of  different 
ways  in  which  the  Spirit  acts  in  regeneration.” 


II:  BROTHER  GREEN 


One  of  the  primary  mistakes  of  men  in 
their  relation  to  religion  is  to  think  of  it  as 
a  creed ,  whereas  religion  is  primarily  an  ex¬ 
perience.  Religion  is ,  first  of  all ,  the  deliv¬ 
ering  power  of  God  in  the  soul.  The  deepest 
need ,  therefore ,  is  to  go  directly  to  God 
Himself ,  for  light  and  life ,  instead  of  to  the 
theologian.  A  knowledge  of  God ,  thus  ob¬ 
tained ,  will  clarify  the  intellect  at  the  same 
time  that  it  cleanses  the  heart. 

Bishop  Ainsworth. 


II 


Brother  Green 

Elijah  Green  had  some  literary  facility,  though 
he  disclaimed  it  in  conversation  with  his  friends 
that  day  on  the  train.  When  the  frenzy  has  been 
upon  him,  he  has  frequently  sat  down  and  written 
a  piece  which  he  felt  should  be  in  print.  Some 
of  these  have  come  to  my  notice,  and  will  be 
found  in  this  book.  Out  of  my  long  and  inti¬ 
mate  acquaintance  with  him,  I  have  written  sev¬ 
eral  others,  and  am  giving  them  to  the  world  in 
this  volume.  I  am  anxious  that  my  beau  ideal 
of  a  country  pastor  shall  have  a  wider  constitu¬ 
ency  than  the  mere  pastorates  he  served. 

JLije,  as  he  was  affectionately  called,  loves  the 
country  church.  I  have  heard  him  say  that  he 
was  never  pastor  in  a  town  with  a  population  of 
five  hundred.  I  have  heard  people  ask  him  why 
he  did  not  try  for  the  large  and  influential 
churches  of  the  Conferences  which  have  employed 
him.  He  would  answer: 

“I  take  what  the  Bishop  gives  me,  and  then  I 
can  hold  him  responsible  for  my  failure.  If  I 
should  ask  him  for  a  certain  charge,  and  if  I 

should  then  fall  down  in  my  ministry  on  that 

33 


34  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

work,  I  should  be  terribly  chagrined.  Besides,  I 
would  feel  nervous  on  entering  a  work  which  I 
had  solicited,  directly  or  indirectly.  But  I  find 
myself  calmly  facing  each  new  responsibility  with 
the  feeling  that  if  I  fail,  I  can  lay  it  to  the  lack 
of  acumen  in  the  Bishop.  He  ought  to  have 
known  better  than  to  have  sent  me  to  a  place 
where  I  would  fail.” 

Brother  Green  was  reared  in  a  Christian  home, 
but  he  grew  indifferent  to  religion  in  the  Army, 
where  he  spent  an  enlistment.  After  a  short  time 
in  civil  life,  he  became  tremendously  interested 
in  the  temperance  question,  from  the  purely  hu¬ 
manitarian  standpoint.  He  did  not  profess 
religion  himself,  but  he  felt  that,  of  all  people, 
professors  should  fight  the  liquor  business.  Forty 
or  more  years  ago,  many  so-called  religious  peo¬ 
ple  distilled  and  sold  liquor.  In  fact,  there  were 
many  moderate  drinkers  in  the  Church.  This 
drove  Green  well-nigh  frantic.  He  felt  deeply 
on  subjects  that  interested  him,  and  this  indif¬ 
ference  set  him  to  thinking.  Then  he  wondered 
how  an  all-wise,  all-powerful  and  good  God 
could  allow  man’s  inhumanity  to  man.  It  was 
only  a  step  to  atheism — the  child  of  the  manse 
had  come  to  believe  that  there  is  no  God. 

Now  this  man’s  difficulties  were  all  spiritual. 
He  knew  little  and  cared  less  about  physical 
science.  So  it  was  an  awful  calamity  for  him  to 


BROTHER  GREEN 


35 


lose  faith  in  God.  He  was  not  a  vulgar  sinner. 
He  had  a  thoroughbred  contempt  for  the  ordinary 
peccadilloes  of  life.  So  he  did  not  drift  into  the 
sensuous  and  sordid  things  from  which  so  many 
people  have  to  be  saved.  But  all  the  same,  he 
reached  the  point  where  he  lost  sympathy  with 
mankind.  Without  having  read  Darwin,  he  had 
crudely  formulated  the  maxim  that  the  weakest 
ought  to  go  down  in  the  struggle  of  life.  To 
himself,  he  debated  the  existence  of  rectitude, 
honor,  beauty,  love. 

In  this  wretched  state,  Green  quit  censuring 
men  for  doing  things  which  he  did  not  like.  The 
sinner  was  just  an  animal — many  of  them  mere 
swine.  What  right  had  he  to  drive  a  four-legged 
hog  out  of  the  mire — the  hog  enjoyed  it.  Why 
should  he  deprive  a  two-legged  hog  of  the  same 
privilege,  when  he  enjoyed  it  so*?  You  see,  there 
was  no  ultimate  authority  in  his  scheme  of  things. 
Without  authority,  how  could  he  proceed*?  He 
was  too  modest  himself  to  arrogate  authority,  and 
resented  it  in  any  one  else,  because  he  felt  that 
no  other  man  had  any  more  authority  than  he 
had. 

Green  often  thanked  God  that  he  was  not  in 
this  state  very  long.  He  says  that  he  would 
never  have  been  able  to  make  anything  out  of  the 
universe  if  he  had  remained  an  atheist.  Curi¬ 
ously  enough,  light  first  came  to  him  from  the 


36  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

human  viewpoint.  One  day,  as  he  was  working 
in  a  potato  patch,  he  soliloquized  thus: 

‘ ‘These  clods  contain  the  elements  that  com¬ 
pose  the  potato.  Certain  chemicals  are  taken  by 
the  potatoes  from  the  clods  for  building  up  the 
human  frame,  when  taken  into  the  human  sys¬ 
tem.  The  physical  system  is  all  that  I  appre¬ 
hend.  So  it  must  be  that  what  we  call  honor, 
integrity,  love,  come  from  the  potato,  which  comes 
largely  from  the  clods.” 

He  did  not  know,  then,  how  near  he  was  to 
the  truth  as  it  is  related  in  Genesis:  “God  made 
man  out  of  the  dust  of  the  earth,  and  breathed 
into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life,  and  man  be¬ 
came  a  living  soul.”  He  was  groping  along  with¬ 
out  God,  and  the  entire  thought  of  the  clods  and 
potatoes  only  nauseated  him.  Much  as  he  hated 
the  doctrine,  to  him,  at  that  time,  the  universe 
was  merely  physical.  He  heartily  disdained  the 
physical.  He  was  genuinely  psychical.  So  he 
exclaimed : 

“Out  on  such  a  doctrine!  Vd  rather  believe 
that  there  is  a  God.  The  fact  is,  that  I  zvant  to 
believe  that  there  is  a  God.  So  far  as  I  know, 
there  is  only  one  objection  to  the  doctrine,  and 
that  is  the  fact  of  all  this  wrong  in  the  world. 
I  see  that  the  wrong  is  nearly  entirely  due  to 
man — Ah!  I  wonder  if  there  is  a  thought  there? 


BROTHER  GREEN 


37 


The  universe,  outside  of  man,  seems  all  right. 
Let  me  see  how  God  will  fit  in  right  here.  If 
God  is,  he  made  man  with  all  that  that  implies. 
And — O  Stupidity,  thy  other  name  is  Elijah 
Green.  Why,  God  made  man  and  gave  man  a 
will  of  his  own.  The  key  to  the  moral  universe 
is  man’s  free  will.  Why  didn’t  I  see  it  before*?” 

With  the  postulate  “God  is”  to  work  from, 
Brother  Green  had  a  mighty  rebound  of  faith  in 
humanity.  He  had  been  like  a  tethered  horse, 
trampling  around  and  around,  and  eating  up  all 
within  his  prescribed  limits.  But  the  lariat 
broke,  and  let  him  out  onto  the  boundless  prairie. 
He  wandered  from  one  delicious  morsel  to  an¬ 
other.  It  was  all  so  easy  to  understand  now. 
Why,  if  God  is,  everything  worth  while  is.  Oh, 
the  physical  universe  was  suddenly  shot  through 
with  spirituality.  He  first  recognized  the  power, 
but  shortly  he  noted  the  love  in  it  all.  And  in 
a  little  while,  he  could  see  where  the  integrity, 
honor,  chastity,  beauty  came  in. 

But  Elijah  Green  was  not  yet  a  Christian — 
far  from  it.  His  grudge  against  the  liquor-loving 
part  of  the  church  would  not  down.  But  a  curi¬ 
ous  phenomenon  soon  presented  itself.  While 
some  in  the  church  were  pro-liquor,  nearly  all  of 
those  ranged  against  the  business  belonged  to  the 
church.  And  Elijah  got  mighty  cold  comfort 


38  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

from  the  reflection  that  not  many  of  his  non¬ 
professing  friends  were  temperance  men.  Among 
the  most  earnest  workers  for  the  temperance  cause 
was  a  minister  with  whom  he  became  intimate. 
This  Thomas  Freeman  became  deeply  concerned 
about  Elijah.  Once  they  were  on  the  same  pro¬ 
gram  at  a  temperance  meeting.  ’Lije  was  radical 
in  his  speech,  but  he  did  not  use  the  Bible  in  what 
he  had  to  say.  Freeman  noticed  this,  and,  sus¬ 
pecting  that  ’Lije  was  a  skeptic,  invited  him  to 
his  house  and  drew  him  into  a  discussion  of  re¬ 
ligion.  The  younger  man  expressed  himself 
freely  on  Biblical  topics  for  a  while,  and  was  sur¬ 
prised  that  he  was  never  checked  and  rebuked  by 
the  minister.  Freeman’s  attitude  was  tolerant, 
because  he  thought  to  himself  that  if  Green  was 
an  honest  skeptic,  he  must  be  convinced  by  argu¬ 
ment  that  he  was  in  the  wrong  and  not  merely 
be  silenced  by  a  rebuke.  Finally  Green  said: 

“Mr.  Freeman,  I  would  rather  not  talk  religion 
with  you.  I  have  a  great  respect  for  you,  and  I 
am  afraid  of  hurting  your  feelings.  If  you  will 
excuse  me,  I  shall  allow  you  to  do  all  of  the  talk¬ 
ing  on  religion  and  the  Bible  hereafter.” 

“It  is  fine  of  you,  my  boy,  to  wish  to  avoid 
hurting  me,  but  you  will  never  get  anywhere  by 
merely  listening  to  me.  Let  us  talk  this  thing 
through,  at  the  risk  of  hurting  each  other’s  feel¬ 
ings  a  little.  I’ll  promise  not  to  get  miffed  at 


BROTHER  GREEN  39 

anything  you  say,  and  you  are  to  keep  sweet  and 
keep  smiling  at  all  that  I  say.” 

“Agreed!”  laughed  ’Lije,  holding  out  his  hand. 
“Only  I  warn  you  that  I  have  always  cultivated 
a  thick  skin,  and  it  takes  an  awful  hard  jab  to 
get  through  it.  If  your  skin  is  at  all  thin,  I  am 
much  the  better  equipped  for  the  tussle.” 

They  spent  the  evening  in  discussion,  and  when 
’Lije  arose  to  go,  the  minister  said : 

“If  you  will  promise  to  come  to  my  church  next 
Sunday,  I  shall  prepare  a  sermon  on  Christian 
Evidences.  Maybe  I  shall  say  something  that 
will  help  you.” 

“Good!  I’ll  be  there.” 

The  minister  helped  Green  in  that  sermon. 
As  he  passed  down  the  aisle,  Green  was  standing 
at  the  end  of  his  pew.  Freeman  shook  hands, 
and  asked: 

“Well,  Brother  Green,  did  that  help  you?” 

“Yes,  sir;  it  helped  me  some.  But  I  have 
many  objections  which  you  have  not  touched 
upon.  I  shall  write  them  out  and  bring  them 
down  to  your  house  next.  Tuesday  evening.” 

“All  right,”  returned  the  minister.  “Maybe 
I  can  answer  all  of  them;  though  I  have  no  strong 
hope  of  doing  so.  It  is  so  easy  to  ask  questions. 
Now  let  me  see;  I  take  it  that  you  are  after  the 
truth?” 

“Yes,  indeed;  that  is  what  I  want.” 


40  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

“Incidentally,  you  would  like  to  be  satisfied 
in  your  mind  that  the  Bible  is  by  authority  of 
God.” 

“I  would  rather  know  that  than  anything  else.” 
All  this  time  their  hands  were  clasped.  They 
were  the  same  height  and  were  looking  square 
across  at  each  other.  The  kindly  brown  eyes  of 
the  elder  man  transfixed  the  younger.  He  spoke 
deliberately: 

“My  dear  sir,  what’s  the  matter  with  asking 
God  himself  if  the  Bible  is  His  Word?”  Green 
gave  an  uneasy  laugh  and  replied: 

“Whose  god  shall  I  go  to,  Mr.  Freeman?  I 
don’t  believe  in  your  God,  and  my  god  doesn’t 
listen  to  prayer.” 

“You  honestly  ask  my  God  to  show  you  the 
light  on  this  subject.  I  feel  sure  that  He  will 
answer  you  so  that  there  will  be  no  further  doubt 
in  your  mind.” 

“Well,  I’ll  study  on  it,”  replied  Green,  with 
another  uneasy  laugh — and  then  forgot  it. 

“At  that  time,  Green  was  employed  in  the 
woods,  chopping  fuel,  and  hauling  it  to  town,  a 
mile  away.  He  employed  his  leisure  until  Tues¬ 
day  noon  preparing  his  list  of  questions.  One  of 
them  was,  “Who  was  Cain’s  wife?”  Another 
read:  “Wasn’t  David  a  malodorous  chap  to  be 
‘a  man  after  God’s  own  heart’?”  Green  was  a 


BROTHER  GREEN 


41 


pretty  good  sort  of  fellow,  but  he  could  not  avoid 
a  malicious  tingle  of  satisfaction  at  the  way  he 
was  going  to  “wind  the  preacher  up.” 

About  two  o’clock  on  Tuesday  afternoon,  he 
was  busy  chopping  and  studying  on  his  wonder¬ 
ful  list  of  questions.  His  feelings  toward  the 
minister  were  kindly  but  patronizing: 

“Poor  fellow;  I  wonder  what  he  will  say  to 
all  that4?  It  seems  a  shame  to  drive  such  a  nice 
man  into  such  a  hole.  Maybe  it  will  teach  him 
not  to  be  so  cock-sure  of  a  thing.” 

As  he  chopped  on,  the  young  man  remembered 
the  elder  man’s  impressive  words  to  ask  his  God 
about  the  matter.  Again  ’Lije  smiled  at  the  idea 
of  his  praying  to  any  god.  Then,  without  intend¬ 
ing  it,  he  was  saying: 

“Well,  if  the  Bible  is  worth  any  trouble  at  all, 
why  shouldn’t  I  honestly  test  his  plan4?  I  can’t 
afford  to  let  a  chance  go  by  which  might  really 
satisfy  me.  It  would  be  a  low-down,  dirty  trick 
to  play  on  such  a  man,  worrying  him  with  a  legal 
cap  sheet  of  queries,  when  I  have  not  done  the 
little  bit  of  a  thing  he  asked  me  to  do.  No  harm 
can  come  of  it,  so  here  goes!” 

He  had  promised  the  minister  that  he  would 
“study  over  it”,  but  this  was  all  the  study  he 
gave  it.  Instantly  he  knelt  near  a  big  oak  tree 
and  prayed  as  follows: 


42  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

“Q  God  of  Thomas  Freeman,  if  the  book 
called  the  Bible  is  thy  Word,  give  me  to  know 
that  fact  here  in  thy  own  way.” 

A  great  awe  fell  upon  the  kneeling  man.  He 
felt  that  something  tremendous  was  about  to 
transpire.  There  were  no  adventitious  human 
agencies  near  to  assist  in  what  was  going  to 
happen.  He  was  twenty-five  years  old — abun¬ 
dantly  mature  to  know  what  he  was  about.  The 
day,  March  29,  1874,  in  that  northern  latitude, 
was  chill  with  a  recent  snow.  No  birds  were 
astir.  The  winds  were  quiet.  For  one,  two,  three 
seconds,  the  man  waited  for  the  coming  of  God. 
Then  suddenly  he  was  there.  A  compel¬ 
ling,  enveloping,  soul-filling,  all-pervading  Pres¬ 
ence  was  manifesting  itself  above,  beneath,  all 
around,  and  within  that  kneeling  form.  Elijah 
Green  often  said  afterwards  that  his  own  exist¬ 
ence  is  less  real  to  him  than  the  existence  of  the 
God  of  the  Bible.  And  he  is  one  who,  when  he  is 
convinced  of  a  thing,  is  convinced  all  over.  The 
immensity  of  his  discovery  called  pause  upon  his 
thoughts.  As  noted  before,  the  psychical  in  the 
universe  demanded  Elijah  Green’s  respect,  and 
commanded  his  attention.  What  he  had  just 
learned  was  of  more  importance,  he  said,  than 
all  mechanics.  Nothing  in  biology,  or  astronomy, 
or  chemistry  could  be  so  fascinating  to  him  as  the 
further  study  of  this  subject,  which  had  just 


BROTHER  GREEN  43 

opened  to  him  so  miraculously.  But  almost  im¬ 
mediately  occurred  to  him  this  thought : 

‘The  Bible  is  God’s  Word,  but  it  condemns 
my  life.  I  must  square  myself  with  the  Bible,  or 
go  down  into  hell.” 

It  seems  strange  that  a  minister’s  son,  reared 
by  a  godly  mother,  an  attendant  at  Sunday 
school  for  many  years,  should  not  have  proceeded 
at  once  to  the  conversion  of  his  soul.  But  he 
who,  a  moment  before,  had  spoken  to  himself  of 
the  assurance  of  the  minister,  now  felt  the  utmost 
diffidence  about  the  ground  he  was  treading.  He 
suddenly  became  frenzied  about  his  soul’s  salva¬ 
tion.  Everything  spiritual  grew  dark  and  for¬ 
bidding.  All  nature  reflected  the  gloom.  But 
he  waited  until  he  would  again  be  with  his  friend 
Freeman.  The  afternoon  seemed  interminable. 
He  ate  but  little  supper  and,  making  hasty 
preparations,  started  for  Rev.  Thomas  Freeman’s 
house,  with  the  list  of  questions  safe  in  the  stand 
table  drawer  in  his  room. 

Once  out  in  the  open,  he  hurried  into  the  town. 
His  eagerness  increased  with  each  step.  When 
he  reached  the  residential  street  on  which  the 
minister  lived,  and  there  were  few  persons  out 
of  doors,  he  ran  for  the  last  block  and  rang  the 
bell  violently.  Freeman  himself  came  to  the  door. 
He  had  just  finished  his  supper,  and  had  come 
to  the  parlor. 


44  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

“Why,  good  evening,  'Li j e.  You  startled  me. 
Come  in.” 

Seated  in  the  parlor,  the  young  man  became 
silent.  The  minister  watched  him  narrowly  for 
a  moment;  half  guessed  what  was  the  matter. 
Then  very  pleasantly: 

“Well,  ’Lije,  did  you  make  out  that  list  of 
questions4?” 

“Don’t  say  questions  to  me,  Mr.  Freeman.  I 
am  a  poor,  miserable  sinner.  I  want  salvation. 
May  we  go  where  we  shall  not  be  disturbed4?” 

44 Yes,  come  right  into  the  library.”  Every¬ 
thing  v/as  solid  ground  for  the  minister  now.  He 
understood  the  case  and  could  act  with  as  much 
precision  as  a  physician  can,  when  he  is  sure  that 
a  patient  has  the  measles.  When  they  were 
seated  in  the  library,  he  began: 

4  4  4God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his 
only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in 
him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life.’ 
'Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy 
laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest.  Take  my  yoke 
upon  you,  and  learn  of  me;  for  I  am  meek  and 
lowly  in  heart.’  ” 

Never  had  Scripture  so  spoken  to  the  heart  of 
Elijah  Green  as  it  did  at  that  time.  He  broke 
down  and  cried  like  a  baby.  Freeman  continued 
to  quote  appropriate  Scripture  for  a  while,  when 
Green  suddenly  interrupted: 


BROTHER  GREEN 


45 


“Oh,  let  us  pray.”  They  knelt,  and  Elijah 
immediately  began  to  pray.  But  instead  of  get¬ 
ting  relief,  his  condition  seemed  to  grow  worse — 
intolerable.  His  jaws  seemed  locked;  the  words 
would  not  come  fast  enough;  he  seemed  to  be 
sinking.  He  lost  the  power  of  utterance.  Then 
the  minister  took  up  the  prayer.  His  voice  grew 
less  and  less  distinct  to  Green.  He  was  in  an 
agony  of  bodily,  mental,  spiritual  cramp.  He 
thought  that  he  was  dying,  when  he  heard  the 
minister  say: 

“Lord,  let  in  the  light  now.” 

“Do,  Lord,”  almost  shouted  the  suppliant;  and 
He  did.  The  horrible  cramp  that  instant  loos¬ 
ened  on  his  muscles;  his  mind  was  clear  and 
active;  his  spirit  was  at  peace;  he  grew  calm  and 
remained  kneeling,  listening  with  great  content¬ 
ment  to  the  remainder  of  the  prayer.  It  seemed 
incongruous  for  the  minister  to  continue  to  ask 
for  his  salvation.  Then  the  prayer  ended  and 
they  resumed  their  seats.  For  a  moment,  Free¬ 
man  did  not  happen  to  look  toward  Green,  but 
sat  there,  talking  about  the  power  of  prayer. 
Then  his  glance  happened  to  light  on  the  young 
man’s  face,  and  he  exclaimed: 

“Why,  ’Lije,  you’ve  got  it.” 

“Yes,  sir,  I’ve  got  it.” 

Well,  then,  in  ’Lije’s  language,  they  “clinched.” 
It  was  a  happy,  happy  hug. 


Ill:  A  GAME  OF  CASINO  SPOILT 


0  pportunities  make  obligations.  The  Ephe¬ 
sian  Christians  must  needs  send  their  light 
out  in  every  direction ,  or  their  candlestick 
would  be  removed.  Appeals  for  instruction 
in  the  new  faith  came  to  them  from  afar.  If 
they  had  failed  to  respond ,  they  would  have 
suffered  what  has  come  to  every  other  Church 
and  individual  who  has  refused  to  let  his 
light  shine ;  the  fla?ne  would  have  been  ex¬ 
tinguished. 


A.  H.  Tuttle,  D.D. 


Ill 


A  Game  of  Casino  Spoilt 

One  of  the  dearest  little  surprises  that  I  re¬ 
member  came  to  me  down  in  the  mountains  of 
Alabama.  I  was  looking  through  the  supplemen¬ 
tary  matter  of  a  new  copy  of  my  Unabridged 
Dictionary,  when  I  took  a  notion  to  read  the 
“Memoir  of  Noah  Webster.”  I  had  worn  out 
one  copy  of  that  dictionary  without  reading  the 
Memoir,  because  I  had  an  idea  that  it  merely 
contained  an  account  of  a  very  laborious  literary 
life,  so  I  was  not  expecting  anything  uncommon, 
when  all  at  once  I  was  in  the  midst  of  a  very 
sweet  Christian  experience. 

In  the  year  1808  there  was  a  revival  on  at  New 
Haven,  but  Webster  was  so  deeply  engaged  with 
literary  labors  that  he  did  not  attend,  though  he 
became  aware  of  something  unusual  going  on,  by 
the  uncommon  tenderness  displayed  by  the  other 
members  of  his  family.  It  took  only  a  short  time 
to  ascertain  the  cause  of  this  new  warmth  of  sen¬ 
sibility.  Webster  was  a  believer  in  Christ,  but 
had  been  content  merely  to  live  uprightly,  with¬ 
out  the  experimental  new  birth.  Now  he  went 

after  that  experience  with  characteristic  thor- 

49 


50  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

oughness  and  was  soon  happy  in  a  vital  Chris¬ 
tian  hope.  Then  he  realized  his  responsibility  to 
his  family  and  erected  a  family  altar  which  re¬ 
mained  a  household  institution  until  his  death, 
in  1847.  Shortly  after  his  conversion,  he  and 
several  other  members  of  his  family  joined  the 
Church. 

This  is  a  notable  instance  of  the  pervasive 
influence  of  the  revival  spirit.  Here  was  a  just 
man,  pursuing  the  even  tenor  of  his  way,  with¬ 
out  any  definite  program,  or  even  idea  of  the  life 
in  Christ.  He  was  suddenly  halted  and  forced 
to  take  stock  of  his  spiritual  belongings,  merely 
because  his  family  had  become  interested  in  re¬ 
ligion,  though  none  of  them  had  mentioned  that 
they  were  thus  interested. 

But  Webster  was  with  his  family  every  day; 
Elijah  Green  was  converted  in  a  community 
which  was  in  a  condition  of  profound  spiritual 
torpor.  Yet  his  conversion  was  the  result  of  re¬ 
vival  influence.  His  story  would  not  be  com¬ 
plete  without  showing  the  hidden  cause  of  his 
coming  to  Christ  just  when  he  did,  and  in  the 
way  he  came. 

That  night  when  the  light  shone  into  his  soul 
in  answer  to  the  prayer  of  Thomas  Freeman  and 
himself,  and  after  they  had  moderated  their 
ecstasy  somewhat,  the  minister  remarked : 

“I  like  to  see  your  kind  of  an  experience.  You 


A  GAME  OF  CASINO  SPOILT 


51 


have  worked  through  to  a  blessing  at  a  time  when 
there  is  not  a  breeze  in  the  spiritual  air  at  this 
place.  The  churches  seem  to  me  to  be  especially 
stagnant,  just  now.  It  makes  your  case  somewhat 
remarkable.”  ’Lije  did  not  think  very  much  of 
this  remark  at  the  time,  but  he  was  forcibly  re¬ 
minded  of  it  later. 

At  the  time  of  these  occurrences,  ’Lije  was  cor¬ 
responding  with  his  mother,  seven  hundred  miles 
distant  in  Indiana.  He  had  told  her  of  his  friend, 
the  Rev.  Thomas  Freeman,  and  of  his  arguments 
on  religious  subjects.  A  revival  was  in  progress 
in  his  mother’s  home  town,  and  one  of  the  features 
of  the  meetings  was  for  the  attendants  to  make 
written  requests  for  prayer  for  loved  ones  at  a 
distance.  ’Lije’s  mother  sent  his  name  up  for 
prayer  every  night,  and  asked  that  the  minister 
with  whom  he  was  intimate  might  be  the  instru¬ 
ment  of  his  conversion.  But  she  had  not  men¬ 
tioned  this  in  her  letters  to  Elijah.  It  was  sev¬ 
eral  years  afterwards  that  he  was  back  in  his 
home  town,  and  a  deeply  pious  lady  friend  of  his 
mother  said: 

“  ’Lijey,  there  was  a  big  shout  went  up  in  our 
meeting  here,  when  we  heard  that  you  were  so 
happily  converted,  in  answer  to  our  prayers.” 

“Why,  Aunt  Kitty,  how  was  that?  I  never 
heard  that  before.” 

“Did  your  mother  never  tell  you  of  it?  Why, 


52  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

you  see,  your  mother  handed  in  your  name  every 
night  for  prayer.  And  she  asked  us  to  pray  that 
a  Rev.  Thomas  Freeman  might  be  instrumental 
in  your  conversion.  And  sure  enough,  before  our 
meetings  closed,  here  came  a  letter  from  you, 
stating  that  you  had  been  converted  in  his  study 
while  he  was  praying.  I  am  surprised  that  your 
mother  never  mentioned  it  to  you.”  ’Lije  mus¬ 
ingly  replied: 

“Mother  has  become  so  habituated  to  having 
her  prayers  answered  that  'she  takes  an  answer 
as  a  matter  of  course,  perhaps.” 

But  going  back  to  that  superlative  night: 

After  an  hour  of  very  sweet  communion  with 
Freeman,  Elijah  started,  the  time  still  being 
early,  for  his  home,  a  mile  away.  He  was  a  mere 
hired  hand,  but  he  was  treated  as  a  member  of 
the  family,  in  which  he  was  a  general  favorite. 
As  he  went  along  the  street,  he  seemed  to  want 
to  seize  every  one  whom  he  met,  and  tell  him : 

“Say,  Brother,  Eve  found  Jesus.” 

But  after  a  while  he  came  in  sight  of  the 
house.  Somehow  his  courage  did  not  seem  so 
great  as  when  he  was  walking  along  the  streets. 
He  saw  a  light  in  the  great  kitchen  and  knew 
that  the  family  were  all  in  there.  He  reflected 
that  he  could  go  directly  to  his  room  from  the 
hall  entrance,  and  he  weakly  resolved  that  he 


A  GAME  OF  CASINO  SPOILT  53 

would  do  so.  But  when  he  opened  the  hall  door, 
he  heard  the  voice  of  Frank  Sylvester  in  the 
kitchen  say: 

“Here  comes  ’Lijey.  He  will  deal  the  cards  in 
great  shape  for  us.” 

You  see,  ’Lije  had  learned  to  play  cards  in  the 
Army.  He  had  introduced  the  game  of  Casino 
to  the  Sylvesters.  Both  of  the  parents  were  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  church,  but  just  at  that  time  were 
tinctured  with  the  error  that  there  was  no  harm 
in  cards  at  home.  ’Lije  had  principally  argued 
them  into  this  position.  Frank,  Mary,  and  Nel¬ 
lie  Sylvester  had  often  whiled  the  evenings  away 
at  Casino,  with  Elijah  Green  for  an  instructor. 

While  our  new  convert  stood  there  in  the  hall, 
after  hearing  Frank  say  that  he  would  deal  the 
cards,  a  revulsion  of  feeling  swept  through  him. 
He  conceived  a  violent  dislike  for  cards,  which 
has  increased  as  the  years  have  gone  by.  Again 
he  thought  eagerly  of  escaping  upstairs.  As  he 
stood  undecided,  Frank  threw  open  the  door  of 
the  kitchen  which  opened  into  the  hall,  showing 
Mr.  Sylvester  reading  at  one  end  of  the  dining 
table;  Mrs.  Sylvester  at  work  with  the  baking; 
and  the  three  young  people  at  the  other  end  of 
the  table,  with  the  cards.  Elijah’s  whole  soul 
arose  in  loathing  against  those  cards,  as  Frank 
gayly  exclaimed: 


54  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

“Sit  down,  ’Lije,  and  take  a  hand  with  us.  We 
are  so  miserably  awkward,  shuffling  and  dealing 
the  cards.” 

Now  ’Lije,  early  in  his  Army  experience,  had 
decided  that  he  was  not  cut  out  for  a  gambler, 
and  for  strictly  prudential  reasons  had  avoided 
the  gaming  table.  At  the  same  time,  he  had  spent 
hours  sitting  with  a  deck  of  cards  in  his  hands, 
riffling  and  shuffling  them,  playing  Solitaire.  He 
had  also  played  this  game  of  Casino  with  his 
buddy.  No  harm  had  come  to  him  from  cards, 
because  there  was  no  fascination  in  gaming  for 
him.  He  preferred  a  book  or  magazine. 

But  now  it  was  squarely  up  to  him  to  play  or 
not  to  play  cards  after  he  had  professed  the  re¬ 
ligion  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  had  argued  that  there 
is  no  harm  in  cards  at  home,  but  sitting  there  with 
those  innocent  young  people,  whom  he  had  taught 
to  play  this  game,  it  suddenly  occurred  to  him: 

“Cards  are  the  gambler’s  most  convenient 
tools.  There  are  ten  dollars  lost  at  cards,  to  one 
dollar  at  any  other  game.  In  the  name  of  hon¬ 
esty  and  sanity,  why  make  the  home  the  nursing 
place  of  this  awful  evil?  I  have  called  Casino 
an  innocent  game,  but  it  seems  to  have  a  fatal 
fascination  for  these  young  people.  Maybe  I 
have  started  them  on  the  gambler’s  road  to  hell.” 

So  Elijah  sat  with  these  reflections,  mechan¬ 
ically  riffling  the  cards,  trying  to  make  up  his 


A  GAME  OF  CASINO  SPOILT  55 

mind  how  to  approach  the  subject  of  the  wrong 
in  card  playing.  Frank  peevishly  exclaimed: 

“Go  on  and  deal  the  cards,  ’Lij  e;  you  have 
them  thoroughly  mixed.” 

“I’ll  deal  you  folks  a  hand,  but  I  believe  that 
I  will  not  play  to-night,”  said  ’Lije,  as  he  deftly 
distributed  the  cards  to  the  others. 

At  this,  both  the  old  folks  glanced  toward 
’Lije.  Frank  seized  the  cards  that  were  dealt  and, 
giving  them  back,  banteringly  said : 

“Here,  ’Lije,  deal  yourself  a  hand.  You  must 
play  with  us.  We  will  never  get  anywhere,  play¬ 
ing  among  ourselves.” 

The  riffling  was  resumed,  and  was  watched 
with  great  interest  by  the  old  folks.  ’Lije  knew 
that  he  ought  to  confess  Christ  then  and  there, 
by  repudiating  the  game,  but  oh,  how  hard  it 
was!  At  last,  Frank  impatiently  cried: 

“Deal  the  cards,  ’Lijey  Green;  deal  the  cards. 
Are  you  going  to  sleep?” 

It  was  now  or  never.  ’Lije  lifted  the  cards 
above  his  head  and  threw  them  toward  the 
kitchen  stove.  They  fell  in  fifty-two  different 
places,  and  ’Lije  said,  very  soberly,  and  without 
the  least  appearance  of  cant: 

“So  help  me  God,  I’ll  never  play  another 
game  of  cards.” 

Then  Mrs.  Sylvester  dropped  the  pan  of  bread 
she  was  taking  from  the  oven,  and  Mr.  Sylvester 


56  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

nearly  knocked  the  table  over,  getting  to  his  feet. 
He  seized  one  of  Elijah’s  hands,  and  shouted 
aloud.  She  gathered  up  the  scattered  cards, 
stuffed  them  into  the  stove,  and  almost  hys¬ 
terically  made  for  Elijah,  who  was  now  thor¬ 
oughly  happy.  He  gave  her  his  other  hand,  and 
jumping  up  and  down  between  the  two,  sang  out 
joyfully: 

“Oh,  gentle  people,  I’ve  found  Jesus.” 

“I  knew  it  already,  ’Lijey.  I  suspected  it,  even 
before  you  threw  the  cards.  Poor  boy;  I  could 
see  that  you  were  having  a  hard  time  to  stand 
for  the  right.  But  you  triumphed  at  last,  ’Lijey. 
And  you’ve  preached  the  biggest  sermon  to-night 
that  ever  I  listened  to.  And  you  had  only  a  deck 
of  cards  for  a  text.  If  Mr.  Sylvester  and  I  had 
been  as  firm  as  you,  they  would  never  have  come 
into  the  house.” 

’Lije  now  turned  to  the  young  people.  He  ex¬ 
pected  a  sympathetic  attitude  from  them,  but  it 
was  evident  that  they  were  “put  out,”  notwith¬ 
standing  they  were  all  three  professed  Christians. 
But  they  had  joined  the  Church  because  it  was 
the  genteel  and  popular  thing  to  do.  They  knew 
nothing  of  the  soul-searchings  and  heart-burnings 
which  had  swept  through  Elijah  Green’s  nature. 
But  they  had  begun  to  feel  the  infatuation  of 
cards,  the  most  serious  deflection  from  the  path 
of  rectitude  that  they  had  ever  made.  It  had 


A  GAME  OF  CASINO  SPOILT  57 

seemed  so  harmless  that  they  had  grown  quite 
complacent  about  it.  Then  there  was  an  in¬ 
definable  resentment  against  Elijah  for  what  ap¬ 
peared  to  them  like  superiority  over  them,  as 
Christians.  Why,  he  had  professed  religion  just 
that  night;  it  was  decidedly  “fresh”  in  him  to 
arrogate  authority  over  them  in  a  little  harmless 
amusement.  With  freezing  civility,  Frank  said: 

“I’m  real  glad,  ’Lije,  that  you  have  turned  over 
a  new  leaf.  I  guess  that  you  will  have  a  few 
other  things,  besides  Casino,  to  reform  on.” 

“Reform,  Frank?  Why,  bless  your  life,  I 
have  no  desire  at  all  to  do  anything  that  is  liable 
to  cause  any  one  to  stumble.” 

The  girls  were  not  so  sarcastic  as  Frank,  but 
they  were  plainly  “miffed.”  Elijah  did  not 
notice  it  much,  because  he  was  so  happy  in  his 
new  life.  When  he  had  again  taken  his  seat,  Mr. 
Sylvester  asked  him  to  relate  his  experience.  It 
took  more  than  an  hour,  but  as  he  went  through 
the  door  toward  his  room,  Sylvester  remarked: 

“If  I  am  any  prophet,  you  will  be  preaching 
before  this  time  next  year.” 

“Well,  that  is  what  my  parents  consecrated 
me  for,  when  I  was  eight  days  old.  My  father 
himself  baptized  me  that  day,  by  my  mother’s 
bedside,  and  they  solemnly  gave  me  to  God.” 

The  fact  was,  that  Green  was  licensed  at  the 
next  District  Conference,  in  May,  and  he  entered 


58  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

an  Annual  Conference  the  following  September. 

5Lije  was  immediately  in  the  midst  of  contro¬ 
versy.  His  intensely  militant  disposition  seemed 
to  abhor  peace  and  quiet  as  Nature  abhors  a 
vacuum.  He  enjoyed  meeting  his  old  comrades 
in  skepticism  and  confuting  their  arguments. 
He  at  once  formulated  the  dictum  about  things 
in  the  Bible  which  he  did  not  understand: 

“I  allow  God  to  know  a  great  many  things  I 
don’t  know.” 

But  it  hurt  him  to  find  the  Church  palliating 
and  excusing  things  which  he  knew  were  obstruct¬ 
ing  the  advance  of  the  Kingdom. 

The  next  Sunday  he  joined  the  Broadway 
M.  E.  Church  in  town,  and  that  day  a  number  of 
the  town  folks  came  out  to  visit  the  Sylvesters. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Crowder,  two  of  these  visitors, 
had  been  invited  by  the  young  people  of  the  Syl¬ 
vester  family.  They  were  well-to-do,  and  ex¬ 
tremely  respectable.  They  took  themselves  very 
seriously,  and  doubted  the  propriety  of  any  one 
disagreeing  with  them  on  any  subject  whatever. 

Of  course  it  was  inevitable  that  they  and 
Elijah  should  get  into  a  discussion  on  the  subject 
of  amusements.  In  fact,  Frank  and  Nellie  and 
Mary  had  invited  them  with  this  express  wish. 
So,  at  the  dinner  table,  they  related  Elijah’s  “first 
sermon”,  as  they  were  already  calling  his  repu- 


A  GAME  OF  CASINO  SPOILT  59 

* 

diation  of  the  game  of  cards.  Mrs.  Crowder  very 
impressively  remarked: 

“I  often  think  of  what  an  old  presiding  elder 
back  in  Indiana  used  to  say.” 

“What  was  that?”  asked  Nellie  Sylvester. 

“He  said  that  some  young  converts  put  him  in 
mind  of  young  wasps — biggest  just  after  they  are 
hatched.”  This  ought  to  have  squelched  Elijah, 
but  he  never  could  understand  when  the  proper 
time  had  come  to  subside.  He  answered  pleas¬ 
antly  : 

“It  would  seem  as  though  that  is  especially 
true  in  my  case.  I  can  only  hope  that  I  may  keep 
up  the  pace  with  which  I  have  started.  You  see 
I  am  twenty-five,  and  I  must  go  hard  to  catch  up 
with  most  folks  in  the  Christian  life,  because  the- 
great  majority  of  them  started  before  they  were 
eighteen.  I  am  asking  the  Lord  to  lengthen  my 
days  so  that  I  may  serve  Him  as  long  as  I  worked 
for  the  other  fellow.” 

“Let  me  see,”  ponderously  interposed  Mr. 
Crowder.  “I  believe  that  the  discussion  related 
to  the  harmless  game  of  Casino.  I  trust  that 
that  was  the  very  worst  thing  you  ever  did  while 
you  were  serving  the  'other  fellow’.” 

“You  see,  Mr.  Crowder,  I  argued  that  matter 
all  through  to  my  entire  satisfaction,  all  to  my¬ 
self.  My  conscience  suddenly  became  very 


60  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

tender  about  doing  anything  that  would  make 
my  brother  stumble.  But  I  was  very  greatly 
gratified  when  I  found  that  the  Discipline  repre¬ 
hends  cards.  I  feel  now  that  I  am  ecclesiastically 
on  the  right  track,  as  well  as  conscientiously.” 

“Yes,  I  know  what  the  Discipline  says;  but 
I  regard  it  as  a  tyranny  which  I  am  not  obliged 
to  respect.” 

“Why,  as  to  that,  a  saloon  keeper  can  say  the 
same  when  he  sells  liquor  to  an  Indian  or  a 
minor.” 

“I  consider  the  cases  quite  dissimilar,”  said 
Mr.  Crowder,  with  dignity.  “Now  it  is  my 
honest  belief  that  we  are  too  strict  on  our  chil¬ 
dren.”  (Crowder  was  childless,  but  of  course  he 
was  speaking  in  a  general  way.)  “I  am  satisfied 
that  if  we  will  let  them  have  the  amusements  at 
home  which  so  many  of  them  have  to  seek  else¬ 
where,  these  amusements  away  from  home  would 
not  have  the  charm  for  the  young  people  which 
they  seem  to  possess.” 

“Now  that  would  be  a  matter  of  statistics.  So 
far  as  I  know,  there  are  no  statistics  available  to 
prove  or  refute  your  contention.  But  I  believe 
that  I  can  get  statistics  that  ought  to  set  the  mat¬ 
ter  at  rest.” 

“How  will  you  go  about  that?” 

“In  my  old  company  in  the  Army,  the  soldiers 
play  cards  to  a  man.  I  have  a  very  intelligent 


A  GAME  OF  CASINO  SPOILT  61 

friend  there — John  Robbins — who  will  go  to  the 
pains  of  taking  the  statistics.  I  shall  ask  him  to 
ask  every  man  in  the  company:  First,  Did  you 
learn  to  play  cards  at  home?  Second,  If  you  did 
so  learn,  has  it  been  easier,  on  that  account,  for 
you  to  avoid  gambling  here  in  the  Army?  If  you 
did  not  learn  to  play  cards  in  the  Army,  how 
wrould  you  like  for  your  home  folks  to  know  that 
you  are  gambling  here  in  the  Army?  Now  such 
statistics  ought  to  show  that  not  a  single  out¬ 
breaking  gambler  learned  to  play  cards  at  home, 
because,  according  to  your  belief,  such  boys  will 
have  learned  to  regard  the  game  with  indiffer¬ 
ence,  and  it  will  have  no  influence  over  them. 
I  shall  prepare  my  letter  immediately  after  din¬ 
ner,  so  as  to  show  it  to  you  before  you  leave  for 
home.’5 

Green  already  knew  that  Orth  and  Noble,  two 
of  the  inveterate  gamblers  of  “I”  Co.,  ’Steenth 
Infantry,  had  learned  to  play  cards  at  home, 
where,  they  had  told  him,  they  had  formed  their 
passion  for  gaming.  Rut  he  was  scarcely  pre¬ 
pared  for  the  answer  that  came  from  Robbins. 
His  soldier  friend  told  him  that  every  man  who 
professed  to  having  learned  cards  at  home  was 
now  a  confirmed  gambler.  Orth  was  the  king- 
bee  and  generally  had  75  per  cent  of  the  money 
in  the  company  within  a  week  after  payday. 
Noble  was  an  honest  gambler,  who  played  merely 


62  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

for  the  excitement  of  gaming.  Robbins  went  on 
to  say  that  the  indifferent  gamblers,  and  those 
who  played  for  fun  only,  said  that  they  would 
not  like  for  their  folks  at  home  to  know  how 
they  were  living.  Elijah  showed  these  data  to 
Mr.  Crowder.  It  was  a  delicate  undertaking,  for 
Elijah  did  not  care  to  antagonize  the  man,  but 
he  came  off  successfully.  After  jollying  along 
for  a  while,  Crowder  exclaimed : 

££  ’Lijey,  the  statistics  fail  to  support  my  posi¬ 
tion.  As  you  say,  it  is  a  matter  of  statistics,  and 
not  of  opinion.  You  have  won  fair  and  square. 
I  wouldn’t  have  believed  any  such  showing  pos¬ 
sible.  I  shall  no  longer  maintain  the  position  I 
took  at  Sylvester’s.” 


IV:  CONTRASTED  CONVERSIONS 


One  saved  soul  going  after  an  unsaved 
soul  with  yearning  heart  and  eager  step  and 
tender  entreaty — this  is  the  Christian  s  un¬ 
speakable  privilege . 


Bishop  Berry. 


v 


IV 

Contrasted  Conversions 

The  Rev.  Elijah  Green  entered  Conference  on 
trial  in  September,  1874.  He  asked  for  the 
hardest  circuit  in  the  Conference,  and  received  it. 
I  have  related  some  of  the  things  which  befell 
him  in  the  First  Chapter.  The  second  year  he 
asked  for  and  received  another  hard  circuit.  These 
circuits,  pioneer  work  on  what  was  then  the  fron¬ 
tier  of  Methodism,  and  which  failed  to  support 
one  single  man,  now  contain  several  circuits,  all 
supporting  ministers  at  good  salaries.  Green  be¬ 
came  fascinated  with  the  work  and  wished  for 
no  better  fortune  than  to  go  on  serving  country 
charges  until  the  day  of  his  death. 

Rut  it  was  hard  to  take  a  circuit,  work  for  a 
year,  receive  $75  to  $100  from  the  Home  Mis¬ 
sionary  Society;  perhaps  that  much  from  the 
work;  and  get  along  without  going  in  debt.  At 
the  end  of  the  second  year,  Green  found  himself 
in  debt  $40,  notwithstanding  the  most  rigid 
economy. 

He  went  to  Conference,  passed  his  examina¬ 
tion,  was  received  into  full  connection,  ordained 

Deacon,  and  was  then  placed  on  the  super- 

65 


66  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

numerary  list  at  his  own  request.  He  did  this 
in  order  to  take  charge  of  the  advertising  branch 
of  a  new  business  affair  with  which  he  had  be¬ 
come  acquainted  late  in  his  second  year’s  min¬ 
istry.  This  project  consisted  in  setting  on  foot 
a  hog  cholera  remedy  in  the  states  of  Iowa,  Mis¬ 
souri,  Illinois,  Kentucky,  Indiana,  Ohio.  He 
received  66  2/3  per  cent  of  the  proceeds  for  two 
years.  At  the  end  of  the  contract,  he  had 
$25,000  in  the  bank;  had  studied  his  books  for 
the  third  and  fourth  years;  had  attended  two  big 
meetings;  and  now  asked  to  be  returned  to  the 
effective  list.  This  was  in  another  Conference. 
He  again  asked  for  the  hardest  work  the  cabinet 
could  name  in  a  central  western  Conference. 

When  Elijah  was  admitted  on  trial,  the  Con¬ 
ference  associated  him  with  a  man  only  three 
years  his  senior,  who  had  been  preaching  for 
eight  years.  From  this  minister,  Green  got  the 
following  story,  substantially  as  it  is  related  here : 

A  SKEPTIC  COMES  ACROSS 

“Well,  Gurley,  you  have  to  admit  that  the 
lives  of  Christians  show  the  heavenly  origin  of 
their  religion.  You  have  a  greater  confidence  in 
a  man,  merely  because  he  professes  the  religion 
of  Jesus  Christ.” 


CONTRASTED  CONVERSIONS  67 

‘Til  take  you  on  that  very  point,  Hamilton. 
Who  prays  a  longer  prayer  than  old  Brother 
White?  Pious  to  a  fault.  But  you  know  that 
he  owns  all  of  the  saloon  property  in  Milltown. 
Then  there  is  Class  Leader  Moss.  I  doubt 
whether  he  would  pick  up  a  pin  on  Sunday;  but 
he  swindled  you  out  of  lots  of  good  money,  when 
he  got  $150  for  that  sorry  brute  you  are  riding. 
And  you  know  several  who  are  no  better  than 
these  two,  though  they  all  make  a  loud  profession 
of  religion/’ 

The  two  young  men  jogged  on  in  silence  for 
some  time.  Hamilton  was  not  convinced — only 
silenced.  He  made  no  profession  of  religion,  but 
he  held  it  in  veneration,  and  it  really  pained  him 
for  his  friend  Gurley  to  argue  against  religion, 
as  he  had  been  doing  all  day.  They  had  jour¬ 
neyed  from  Milltown,  their  native  place,  to¬ 
gether,  and  were  now  a  thousand  miles  from 
home.  A  boundless  Iowa  prairie  stretched  away 
on  every  side.  They  were  nearing  the  town 
where  Gurley  expected  to  practice  law  and  Ham¬ 
ilton  medicine,  but  as  yet,  not  a  house  was  in 
sight — western  Iowa,  in  the  sixties,  was  a  different 
country  from  the  Iowa  of  to-day.  Gurley  was 
on  the  point  of  renewing  his  attack,  when  Ham¬ 
ilton  exclaimed: 

“Look!  There’s  a  house.” 


68  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

After  a  careful  scrutiny  of  the  horizon  up  the 
trail,  Gurley  remarked  that  it  probably  was  a 
house. 

£T11  be  glad  of  it,”  sighed  Hamilton.  “My 
horse  is  too  badly  used  up  to  go  on  to  Wingolia 
to-night.  Judging  by  the  last  opinion  we  got,  it 
must  be  twelve  miles  to  town,  and  the  sun  is 
nearly  down.” 

It  was  nearly  dark  when  the  travelers  reached 
the  house  which  they  had  sighted  an  hour  before. 
It  was  a  newly  constructed  “shanghai,”  and  in 
front  of  it  stood  the  four  occupants,  apparently 
a  man  and  wife,  and  their  son  and  daughter. 
These  people  were  unkempt  and  forbidding  in 
appearance,  and  it  seemed  an  unlikely  place  to 
spend  the  night. 

“How  far  is  it  to  Wingolia?”  asked  Gurley. 

“It  must  be  ten  miles,”  replied  the  elder  of 
the  men. 

“Can  we  make  it?”  inquired  Gurley  of  Ham¬ 
ilton,  with  an  apprehensive  glance  at  his  beast. 

“There's  a  good  moon,”  hesitated  Hamilton, 
who  was  troubled  with  the  same  doubts  Gurley 
had  about  stopping.  The  young  man  had 
lounged  around  to  Hamilton's  side  of  the  road 
and  was  eyeing  his  horse  keenly. 

“The  moon  won’t  do  this  hoss  no  good.  He’s 
needin'  rest.  Better  stay  here  all  night.”  Ham¬ 
ilton  readily  assented  to  this,  but  Gurley  shot  a 


CONTRASTED  CONVERSIONS  69 

glance  of  disapproval  at  the  young  fellow,  as  the 
father  added  heartily: 

“Yes,  strangers,  git  down  an5  picket  your 
bosses,  an’  stay  all  night.  Then  you  can  take 
your  time  to  go  to  Wingolia  in  the  morning.” 
This  brought  Hamilton  to  the  ground,  and  Gur¬ 
ley  reluctantly  followed.  After  feeding  and 
picketing  the  horses,  they  entered  the  house,  the 
host  remarking: 

“We’ve  already  et  our  suppers.  You’ll  have 
to  put  up  with  what’s  left.” 

The  untidy  dishes  and  debris  of  the  meal;  the 
disarranged  room ;  the  unswept  floor — all  ap¬ 
peared  uninviting.  Everything  seemed  dirty. 
They  ate  sparingly  and  retired  soon  afterwards. 
The  young  man  took  them  to  a  stairway  out  of 
doors,  and  said: 

“Go  upstairs  and  take  the  bed  you  will  see 
near  the  door.  I’d  give  you  a  light,  but  we  hain’t 
made  no  candles  yet  this  Fall.  But  the  moon 
will  shine  right  in  at  the  door.” 

Upstairs,  by  the  bed,  the  young  men  looked  at 
each  other  with  troubled  faces.  Gurley,  in  a  low 
voice,  spoke  first: 

“I  believe  that  we  are  in  a  den  of  thieves.” 

“So  do  I.” 

“I’m  not  going  to  undress.” 

“Neither  am  I.” 

Possibly  you  have  been  there  yourself,  gentle 


70  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

reader — judging  honest  people  by  appearances. 
They  had  traveled  a  thousand  miles  to  reach  this 
point,  but  had  always  managed  to  stop  in  some 
reputable  hotel  or  road  house.  A  panic  gradually 
took  possession  of  them.  As  they  sat  there,  the 
situation  became  more  and  more  unbearable.  At 
last  Hamilton  whispered: 

“Let’s  slip  downstairs  and  stay  with  the  horses 
until  we  are  better  satisfied.” 

So  they  noiselessly  descended  the  stairs  and 
went  to  the  horses,  out  on  the  prairie,  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  from  the  house.  They  stretched  their 
ample  saddle  blankets  on  the  grass,  and,  putting 
on  their  overcoats,  they  lay  down,  with  their  sad¬ 
dles  for  pillows.  It  was  early  in  September,  and 
a  glorious  night.  They  lay  quiet  for  a  long 
while,  watching  the  light  in  the  shanghai  window. 
Hamilton  was  just  dozing  off,  when  Gurley 
kicked  his  shin  and  sharply  inquired : 

“What’s  that  I  hear?”  Hamilton  was  wide 
awake  in  a  moment  and  intently  listening. 

“They  are  singing  at  the  house,  Gurley.” 

“They  are  singing  ‘Sweet  Hour  of  Prayer’.” 

“Let’s  go  to  the  house  and  listen.” 

They  started  for  the  house  on  a  run.  When 
they  drew  near,  they  slowed  down  and  got  to 
the  window,  where  they  stood  looking  in  at  a 
beautiful  scene — the  sight  of  a  Christian  family 
at  household  devotions.  The  four  made  a  splen- 


CONTRASTED  CONVERSIONS  71 

did  quartet.  The  mother’s  strong  treble  carried 
the  air;  the  daughter  sang  a  mellow  alto;  the  boy 
growled  a  deep  bass ;  the  father  had  a  magnificent 
tenor  voice.  They  were  just  starting  the  last 
stanza : 

“Sweet  hour  of  prayer,  sweet  hour  of  prayer, 

May  I  thy  consolation  share, 

Till  from  Mount  Pisgah’s  lofty  height, 

I  view  my  home,  and  take  my  flight. 

This  robe  of  flesh  I’ll  drop  and  rise 
To  seize  the  everlasting  prize ; 

And  shout,  while  passing  through  the  air, 
Farewell,  farewell,  sweet  hour  of  prayer.” 

At  the  close  of  the  hymn,  the  father  read  the 
Fifth  chapter  of  Matthew  and  led  in  a  tender 
prayer  of  thanksgiving  that  God  had  reunited 
them,  after  a  separation  of  months.  He  was  very 
grateful  for  the  Providence  which  had  smiled  on 
the  labors  of  the  son,  while  the  father  had  been 
back  to  Illinois,  bringing  the  mother  and  daugh¬ 
ter  to  their  new  home.  He  asked  to  be  kept  true 
to  their  God.  Then  he  asked  his  Heavenly  Fa¬ 
ther  to  bless  the  two  young  men  under  their  roof. 
He  expressed  the  fear  that  they  were  not  re¬ 
ligious,  but  pleaded  for  God  to  bring  them  to  a 
realization  of  all  his  mercies  and  goodness,  and 
to  the  foot  of  the  cross  of  Christ.  Then  he  asked 
that  the  family  might  be  of  some  benefit  to  the 


72  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

cause  of  Christ  in  that  part  of  the  world  and 
closed. 

The  two  eavesdroppers  now  looked  in  each 
other's  faces,  and  Gurley  whispered: 

“What  fools  we  were;  let’s  go  back  to 
bed.” 

“Not  if  your  argument  to-day  was  correct. 
The  mere  profession  of  religion  by  a  person  is 
no  sign  that  he  is  not  a  villain,  deep-dyed.  And 
remember,  you  gave  me  instances  to  prove  your 
contention.” 

“Yes,  I  know  what  I  did.  I  gave  you  exam¬ 
ples  of  wolves  in  sheep’s  clothing.  Those  folks 
in  there  are  God’s  lambs.  And  please  His  grace, 
I’m  going  to  be  one,  too.” 

So  the  two  travelers  sneaked  back  to  bed.  It 
was  strange  how  differently  everything  appeared 
next  morning.  The  head  of  the  family  had  a 
most  benignant,  patriarchal  look;  the  mother  was 
a  sweet-faced  Madonna;  the  daughter  was  a 
pure,  lovely  virgin;  the  son  was  an  upstanding, 
clear-eyed,  manly  young  fellow.  Now  that  the 
suspicions  of  the  previous  evening  were  all  dissi¬ 
pated,  it  was  incredible  to  those  men  that  they 
had  doubted  these  people. 

It  seemed  that  the  father  and  son  had  come  to 
this  land  the  previous  fall;  had  built  the  house 
during  the  winter;  had  put  in  a  crop  during  the 
spring;  that  then  the  father  had  returned  to 


CONTRASTED  CONVERSIONS 


73 


Illinois  for  the  women  folks,  while  the  son  had 
finished  the  crop;  that  the  father  and  mother  and 
daughter  had  reached  there  in  the  middle  of  the 
previous  afternoon. 

When  it  came  time  for  morning  devotions,  the 
father  said,  as  he  took  the  Book: 

“Will  one  of  you  read  a  chapter  for  us?” 

“No,  sir,”  responded  Gurley.  “We  are  not 
worthy.  You  read,  and  mention  me  in  your 
prayers,  sir.” 

“And  pray  for  me,  also,”  added  Hamilton, 
heartily. 

“Have  you  anything  special  you  would  like  to 
sing?” 

“Do  you  know : 

“  ‘Savior,  let  thy  pitying  eye 
Call  back  a  wandering  sheep’?” 

“Yes,  we  know  it  well.” 

“Please  sing  it,  then.” 

Mr.  Jones  had  intended  to  read  the  Twenty- 
third  Psalm,  but  he  changed  his  mind  while  they 
were  singing  and  selected  the  Fortieth  Psalm. 
While  he  was  reading  how  God  lifted  David’s 
feet  up  from  the  miry  clay  and  placed  them  on 
the  Rock,  Gurley  passed  up  to  the  Rock.  Just 
as  they  were  kneeling,  he  said  gently: 

“Excuse  me,  Brother  Jones,  but  I  want  very 


74  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

much  to  lead  in  prayer,  after  all.  I  am  a  dif¬ 
ferent  man  from  what  I  was  when  you  started 
to  read  that  chapter.” 

Gurley’s  prayer  was  a  thanksgiving  for  the 
family  altar,  and  especially  for  this  one.  He  was 
very  happy,  but  a  man  of  speech,  so  he  was  able 
to  keep  his  thoughts  in  motion  and  to  clothe 
them  in  the  right  language.  It  was  like  a  prairie 
lire.  All  of  the  others,  except  Hamilton,  led  in 
prayer,  before  they  arose  from  their  knees. 

Elijah  Green  remarked,  in  relating  this  inci¬ 
dent,  that  it  so  often  happens  that  an  out-break¬ 
ing  skeptic  will  get  into  the  Kingdom  ahead  of 
a  nominal  believer,  when  they  both  start  at  the 
same  time.  But  Hamilton  was  mightily  saved 
that  day,  while  they  were  riding  along  on  the  last 
lap  of  their  long  journey  from  Ohio. 

Hamilton  dropped  medicine  the  next  fall  and 
entered  the  ministry.  Gurley  became  one  of  the 
strongest  laymen  in  the  State,  and  died  in 
triumph. 

RECORD  SHORT  TIME  IN  CONVERSION 

In  the  second  year  of  his  supernumerary  rela¬ 
tion,  Elijah  once  found  himself  in  a  nice  little 
city  of  central  Indiana,  during  a  revival.  The 
crowds  in  attendance  could  not  secure  admission, 
so  that  the  vestibules,  the  class  rooms,  and  even 


CONTRASTED  CONVERSIONS 


75 


the  sidewalks  were  crowded.  Elijah  shortly  be¬ 
came  employed  on  the  sidewalk,  talking  religion, 
and  led  many  to  the  altar  for  prayer. 

One  evening,  he  accosted  a  young  man  on  the 
outskirts  of  the  crowd: 

“Brother,  are  you  studying  about  your  salva¬ 
tion4?” 

“Yes,  sir;  and  I  want  salvation  very  much.” 

“Have  you  been  to  the  altar4?” 

“No,  sir;  this  is  the  first  time  I  have  been  to 
the  meeting.” 

“Come  and  go  with  me  to  the  altar.”  They 
were  standing  where  they  could  see  right  up  the 
auditorium  to  the  chancel.  Just  at  that  moment 
some  one  was  converted,  and  the  crowd  surged 
up  and  filled  the  aisle.  The  young  man  replied : 

“It  would  be  very  hard  for  me  to  get  to  the 
altar.  Is  it  necessary  for  me  to  go  there4?” 

“No,  indeed;  one  place  is  as  good  as  another. 
The  advantage  in  the  altar  is,  that  there  are  many 
people  up  there  to  pray  for  you.” 

“It  doesn’t  seem  that  it  will  be  very  hard  for 
me  to  get  religion,  so  I  don’t  think  I  need  very 
many  to  pray  for  me.” 

“Suppose  we  kneel  right  here  on  the  sidewalk.” 

“I  think  there  are  some  fellows  around  here 
that  might  disturb  us.”  Then,  tentatively:  “If 
we  could  only  find  some  private  place  where  we 
may  pray  together.” 


76  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

“All  right;  let’s  go  down  the  street  among  the 
freight  cars.” 

It  was  only  two  blocks  to  the  railroad,  where 
a  number  of  empties  were  standing  idle.  They 
went  in  between  two  tracks  full  of  cars  and  knelt 
on  the  ground.  With  great  simplicity,  the  boy 
said: 

“Now,  God,  you  know  me,  and  you  know  I 
want  religion.  You  know  I  have  been  a  pretty 
tough  fellow,  but  you  know  that  I  cut  out  all  of 
the  tough  business  this  afternoon.  I  want  salva¬ 
tion.  I  see  that  it  will  be  pretty  hard  to  keep 
straight  without  religion.  I  don’t  seem  to  know 
very  well  how  to  talk  to  you,  so  I  have  brought 
this  gentleman  along,  and  I’ll  let  him  put  the 
thing  up  to  you  in  proper  shape.”  Then  Elijah 
prayed : 

“O  God,  thou  hast  said,  'Him  that  cometh 
unto  me,  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out.’  Help  this 
man  to  understand  that  right  this  very  minute. 
Fact  is,  there  doesn’t  seem  to  be  any  need  for 
delay.”  Here  the  suppliant  interrupted: 

“Why,  no,  God.  If  you  said  that,  it  looks  to 
me  like  the  next  move  is  up  to  you.  Oh,  stranger, 
He  has  done  it !  He  has  done  it !  I  am  all  right. 
Hurrah  for  Jesus!” 

They  shortly  made  their  way  back  to  the  meet¬ 
ing,  praising  God,  in  their  several  ways,  for  his 
goodness.  Elijah  ascertained  that  his  new-found 


CONTRASTED  CONVERSIONS  77 

friend  had  been  convicted  only  that  afternoon. 
He  had  not  been  reared  religiously,  so  he  was  all 
at  sea  as  to  the  procedure.  He  had  come  to  the 
meeting  for  the  purpose  of  going  to  the  altar, 
but  the  house  was  crowded  before  his  arrival,  and 
he  was  wandering  on  the  outskirts  of  the  crowd 
when  he  met  Elijah.  Now  that  he  was  con¬ 
verted,  he  was  very  eager  to  find  out  all  possible 
about  his  new  life.  Elijah  gave  him  his  own 
Testament  and  advised  him  to  read  the  book  of 
Mark  first,  and,  if  possible,  at  one  sitting.  The 
minister  saw  the  convert  about  six  months  after¬ 
wards  in  an  adjoining  town,  where  he  had  gone  to 
a  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Convention.  He  was  greatly 
pleased  to  meet  his  guide  into  the  Heavenly 
Way.  He  said: 

“I  know  something  more  about  religion  than  I 
did  the  night  I  first  met  you.  I  was  so  raw  at 
that  time,  I  wonder  how  I  ever  found  God.” 

“I  have  thought  several  times  that  that  was  the 
reason  you  found  Him  so  easily.  Your  only 
thought  was  salvation,  and  that  mighty  quick. 
With  nothing  to  distract  your  attention,  you  ran 
right  into  the  Kingdom.” 

Elijah  says  that  he  believes  this  conversion  to 
be  the  record  short  case,  to  his  knowledge.  I  cited 
the  case  of  Saul  of  Tarsus,  but  Elijah  replied 
that  Saul  was  convicted,  and  was  then  three  days 
under  conviction.  Undoubtedly  Elijah’s  mind 


78  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

was  directed  to  the  right  Scripture  in  his  prayer 
between  the  freight  cars. 

A  TEN  YEARS’  QUEST 

A  case  in  sharp  contrast  to  the  foregoing  oc¬ 
curred  at  a  meeting  at  old  Pennington’s  Chapel, 
where  the  pastor  asked  Elijah  to  preach  for  him 
during  a  two  weeks’  service.  At  this  meeting, 
one  young  man  came  to  the  altar  every  night. 
He  had  been  reared  i^n  the  Church;  had  always 
gone  to  Sunday  school  and  prayer  meeting; 
never  missed  Circuit  Preaching;  was  strictly 
moral;  but  had  no  evangelical  knowledge  of 
Christ. 

Elijah  was  very  busy  in  this  meeting,  during 
the  altar  exercises,  helping,  advising,  praying 
with  many  different  persons,  so  he  had  only  an 
altar  acquaintance  with  this  seeker. 

The  last  meeting  of  the  series  had  come.  Sev¬ 
eral  had  been  converted ;  the  benediction  had  been 
pronounced;  the  greater  part  of  the  people  had 
left  the  house;  but  this  young  John  Hoagland 
was  still  at  the  altar.  Elijah  stooped  down  to 
his  ear,  and  whispered: 

“John,  nearly  every  one  has  left  the  house; 
wouldn’t  you  better  rise  to  your  feet*?”  Hoag¬ 
land  arose,  and  the  minister  clasped  hands  with 
him  across  the  chancel  rail. 


CONTRASTED  CONVERSIONS  79 

“Oh,  Brother  Green,  why  is  it  so  hard  for  me 
to  get  to  Jesus?  Two  hundred  have  been  saved 
here,  and  I  am  still  seeking.5’ 

“I  am  sure  that  I  don’t  know,  John,  just  what 
is  the  reason  you  are  not  satisfied.  Maybe  you 
have,  in  some  way,  been  prescribing  to  yourself 
precisely  how  the  blessing  shall  come.  Perhaps 
you  think  there  is  a  special  efficacy  in  this  par¬ 
ticular  place.  But  you  are  in  earnest  about  it, 
and  will  be  gloriously  saved  some  day,  some¬ 
where.  And  John,  allow  me  to  say  this:  The 
thing  you  are  hunting  for  is  worth  a  lifetime  of 
search.  If  you  should  find  Jesus  precious  to  your 
soul  only  one  hour  before  you  die,  that  hour  re¬ 
maining  will  compensate  for  all  of  the  sorrow 
you  will  have  endured  in  the  search.  Now  good- 
by.  We  may  never  meet  again  on  earth,  but  I 
trust  that  we  shall  meet  again  in  heaven.” 

The  busy  scenes  and  cares  of  Elijah  Green’s 
active  life  after  that  night  entirely  obliterated 
the  circumstance  from  his  memory.  Ten  years 
afterwards,  a  dear  friend  who  lived  some  dozen 
miles  from  Pennington’s  Chapel  wrote  him  a 
letter,  in  which  she  said: 

“Last  Sunday,  a  new  member  came  to  our  class 
at  Sharp’s  Mills,  from  Pennington’s  Chapel.  He 
was  at  Class  Meeting  in  the  afternoon  and  made 
a  talk  something  as  follows: 

“  'Ten  years  ago  last  November,  I  was  in  a 


80  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

meeting  at  Pennington’s  Chapel,  run  by  a  min¬ 
ister  by  the  name  of  Elijah  Green.  I  went  to 
the  altar  at  every  opportunity,  without  finding 
peace.  On  the  last  day,  a  Sunday,  Brother 
Green,  while  holding  my  hand,  told  me  never  to 
give  up  the  search,  and  if  I  should  be  a  lifetime 
seeking,  and  find  religion  only  an  hour  before  I 
should  die,  there  would  be  enough  joy  in  that  one 
hour  to  compensate  for  all  the  sorrow  I  might 
endure  in  the  search.  Well,  I  sought  for  ten 
years.  One  day  last  spring,  I  was  meditating  on 
my  condition,  when  I  said,  quite  offhand,  but 
very  sincerely:  “Lord,  it  makes  extremely  little 
difference  to  me  how  you  save  me,  just  so  I  am 
saved.”  And  do  you  know,  just  then  salvation 
came.  Oh,  how  happy  I  was!  The  words  of 
Brother  Green,  that  one  hour  of  conversion 
would  make  up  for  all  the  sorrow  I  would  suffer 
in  getting  to  Christ,  came  so  gloriously  true.’  ” 
How  very  little  we  know  about  what  we  are 
saying  and  doing!  Here  was  a  minister  of  God, 
in  labors  abundant,  saying  a  thing  which  he  im¬ 
mediately  forgot,  but  which  sank  deep  in  another 
human  consciousness.  Through  ten  years,  those 
words  clung  to  the  memory  of  him  to  whom  they 
were  spoken.  By  mere  good  fortune,  the  min¬ 
ister’s  friend  was  present,  when  Hoagland  related 
his  experience  at  Sharp’s  Mills.  Thus  the  min- 


CONTRASTED  CONVERSIONS  81 

ister  learned  of  the  consummation  of  the  event 
for  which  he  had  prayed  so  many  years  before. 
How  many  influences  of  his  life  are  there  of 
which  he  will  never  hear  in  this  world?  Well, 
what  is  the  difference  if  he  never  hears  in  this 
world? 


A  CIRCUS  CLOWN  AND  A  GOOD  BOY 

Among  all  of  the  irreligious  classes  with  whom 
I  have  come  in  contact,  I  believe  that  actors 
would  be  the  most  susceptible  to  religious  influ¬ 
ences — as  a  class.  I  was  on  a  morning  paper 
once,  in  a  small  city,  where  I  had  the  task  of 
“writing  up”  the  constantly  changing  features  of 
the  theatrical  programs.  But  I  found  myself 
more  interested  in  the  actors’  private  lives  than 
in  their  public  careers.  I  shortly  came  to  believe 
that  actors,  as  a  class,  are  irreligious  on  account 
of  the  dissipating  influences  with  which  they  are 
surrounded.  Their  profession,  in  its  legitimate 
practice,  is  a  friend  of  morality  and  religion,  but 
the  dissolute  environment  of  the  stage  has  de¬ 
bauched  it. 

These  reflections  were  started  in  my  mind 
when  I  heard  the  horrific  experience  of  Silvertop, 
a  circus  clown,  and  the  friend  of  Elijah  Green. 

This  clown  was  a  man  of  domestic  tastes,  re- 


'82  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

fined  sensibilities,  strong  religious  convictions,  and 
earnest  moral  tendencies.  But  he  was  never  two 
nights  in  the  same  place,  and  his  intimates  in  the 
circus  business  never  inclined  him  to  matrimony 
and  a  family. 

The  coarse,  garish  life  which  he  led  suppressed 
nearly  all  refinement;  while  skepticism  had  no 
place  in  his  system — or  lack  of  system,  he  had 
no  opportunity  for  the  cultivation  of  his  spiritual 
nature;  the  prevailing  looseness  broke  down  his 
moral  fiber. 

Yet  Silvertop  loathed  his  life.  He  wanted  a 
wife  in  a  home  with  pictures  and  books  and 
music.  He  wanted  to  go  to  church  on  Sunday; 
to  be  a  decent,  God-fearing  member  of  society  in 
some  settled  place  of  abode.  But  he  must  make 
the  people  laugh,  when  his  own  heart  was  full 
of  tears.  The  tragedy  of  it! 

The  almost  inevitable  result  was  a  resort  to 
drink.  The  only  part  of  his  spiritual  heritage 
that  had  not  been  squandered  was  the  memory 
of  a  sainted  mother,  and  the  badly  frayed  Testa¬ 
ment  she  had  given  him  when  he  left  home.  This 
he  frequently  read  as  the  caravan  was  slowly 
moving  from  place  to  place. 

But  the  drink  habit  grew  upon  him,  and  he 
grew  less  and  less  reliable.  He  was  “fired”  at 
last,  and  left  in  a  little  country  town.  He  did 
not  stay  longer  than  it  would  take  him  to  get  to- 


CONTRASTED  CONVERSIONS  83 

gether  money  with  which  to  go  to  a  near-by  city, 
where  he  “slowly  descended  the  drunkard’s  stair¬ 
way  to  the  nethermost  hell.” 

But  not  without  many  manful  attempts  to  re¬ 
cover  sovereignty  over  himself  did  he  go  down 
so  low.  Several  times  did  he  “climb  out  of  the 
pit  by  digging  finger-  and  toenails  in  its  slimy 
sides.”  At  last  he  could  “no  longer  procure 
liquor,  because  he  no  longer  had  money.”  He 
went  into  a  delirium  in  which  snakes  writhed 
about  his  body  and  limbs,  toads  glimmered  before 
his  eyes,  and  the  cavernous  jaws  of  alligators 
yawned  in  front  of  him.  After  forty-eight  hours 
of  this  agony,  he  came  to  himself  in  a  hospital 
ward.  Of  course,  his  first  request  was  for  liquor, 
but  it  was  refused.  And  then  again  he  suffered 
“the  agonies  of  the  damned.” 

After  a  time,  he  recovered  lucidity.  A  kindly 
man,  of  a  benignant  and  wholesome  countenance, 
stood  beside  him.  Silvertop  was  only  vaguely 
sane,  so  he  inquired: 

“Are  you  the  Lord  Jesus4?” 

“Indeed,  no.  But  I  hope  I  am  a  follower  of 
His ;  however  unworthy  I  am,  that  says  so. 
Mayhap  I  can  do  something  for  you  in  His 
name.” 

“Do  you  guess  that  you  could  help  me  out  of 
this  torment  with  a  prayer?” 

“I  can  try,  at  least.  And  be  you  full  of  faith 


84  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

that  the  Lord  will  give  you  what  you  want/’ 

Then  the  suppliant  reminded  Christ  very  ear¬ 
nestly  of  how  he  had  been  in  the  same  deplorable 
state  as  this  poor  sufferer,  and  of  how  His  all- 
powerful  blood  had  cleansed  him  from  the  sin  of 
intemperance.  The  earnestness  and  sincerity  of 
his  tones  impressed  the  poor,  bedeviled  Silvertop. 
He  was  soothed  and  helped,  but  he  did  not,  at 
that  time,  get  the  assurance  of  victory.  His  new 
friend  asked  him  if  he  thought  he  could  go  to  a 
Gospel  Temperance  meeting  that  night.  Silver- 
top  said  that  he  would  try.  After  promising  to 
send  some  one  for  him,  the  clown’s  new-found 
friend  departed. 

When  Silvertop  arrived  in  the  vast  auditorium 
where  the  meetings  were  in  progress,  he  saw  his 
friend  of  the  afternoon  seated  on  the  platform. 
He  whispered  to  his  guide: 

“Who  is  the  man  on  the  platform  that  sent 
you  for  me?’ 

“Oh,  he  is  an  Irishman,  by  the  name  of 
Murphy.” 

“Not  Frank  Murphy,  the  temperance  lec¬ 
turer?” 

“That  same.  And  he  will  lecture  to-night.” 

Then  Silvertop  heard  his  own  case  nearly 
duplicated  by  the  experience  of  Murphy,  and  at 
the  close  he  signed  the  pledge  “with  malice  to¬ 
ward  none;  but  with  charity  for  all.”  He  asked 


CONTRASTED  CONVERSIONS  85 

Jesus  to  help  him  keep  the  pledge,  which  He  did, 
until  the  end.  He  went  onto  the  lecture  plat¬ 
form  himself,  and  did  great  good.  He  settled 
in  a  conservative  old  community,  married  a  win¬ 
some  girl,  and  died  in  great  peace,  with  his  wife, 
two  children,  and  many  friends  around  him. 

Elijah  Green  was  present  one  evening  at  a 
meeting  held  by  Silvertop.  He  related  his  ex¬ 
perience  with  the  drink  demon  as  graphically  as 
it  can  be  fancied.  He  was  followed  on  the  pro¬ 
gram  by  a  young  man  whom  Elijah  had  induced 
to  apply  for  a  license  to  preach.  Elijah  was 
pretty  intimate  with  this  boy,  but  was  not  pre¬ 
pared  for  the  speech  which  he  made,  substantially 
as  follows: 

“I  am  always  inclined  to  look  askance  at  my 
own  Christian  experience,  when  I  hear  men  like 
Brother  Silvertop  tell  how  wonderfully  they  were 
saved  from  sin.  My  knowledge  of  sin  is  all  hear¬ 
say.  I  do  not  know  the  taste  of  any  alcoholic 
beverage.  I  have  never  told  a  lie;  I  have  never 
profaned  the  name  of  God;  I  have  never  broken 
the  Sabbath.  I  have  always  dealt  honestly  with 
my  fellowman ;  I  never  took  so  much  as  the  value 
of  a  pin  from  any  one,  by  fraud.  While  I  have 
sometimes  been  obliged,  by  force  of  circum¬ 
stances,  to  listen  to  obscene  language  and  to  talk 
that  is  off  color,  I  get  away  from  such  places  as 
quickly  as  possible.  My  thoughts  of  my  sainted 


86  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

mother’s  sex  have  always  been  pure,  and,  in  con¬ 
sequence,  so  have  my  actions. 

“On  the  other  hand,  I  do  not  remember  when 
I  was  converted.  Having  no  sudden,  cataclysmic 
halt  in  a  career  of  sin,  I  winder  sometimes  if  I 
really  have  been  converted.  But  such  thoughts 
linger  only  for  a  moment  in  my  mind.  For  when 
I  look  carefully  into  my  nature,  I  find  all  of  the 
potentialities  of  wickedness  lying  there,  con¬ 
trolled  and  powerless  under  the  blood  of  Christ. 

“Is  it  necessary  for  me  to  put  my  finger  on  the 
date  when  the  blood  of  Christ  began  to  atone  for 
me4?  If  it  is  necessary,  I  am  still  in  the  gall  of 
bitterness  and  the  bond  of  iniquity.  But  if  I 
feel  the  witness  of  the  Spirit  to  the  application 
of  the  blood,  why  inquire  as  to  when  it  was  ap¬ 
plied4?  Between  you  and  me,  I  am  not  interested 
as  to  the  when,  although  I  am  glad  of  the  fact. 

“It  might  be  thought  by  some  that  I  cannot 
properly  sympathize  with  Brother  Silvertop,  but 
it  seems  to  me  that  I  can.  I  feel  so  sorry  for  him 
on  account  of  his  great  temptations  and  trials, 
that  if  it  were  necessary,  in  order  to  shield  him 
from  further  temptation,  that  I  must  carry  him 
in  my  arms,  I  would,  for  the  sake  of  his  soul, 
undertake  the  task.  I  want  to  shield  every  young 
man  in  this  community  from  like  dangers.  And, 
although  I  never  have  wanted  to  drink  intoxicat¬ 
ing  liquors — never  expect  to  have  the  least  desire 


CONTRASTED  CONVERSIONS  87 

to  do  so — I  shall  try  to  be  the  first  one  to  sign 
the  pledge,  when  it  is  presented  to-night.” 

That  night  Green  was  the  guest  of  Isaac  Sands, 
who  had  reared  this  local  preacher  who  had  made 
this  extraordinary  speech.  As  they  were  sitting 
around  the  evening  lamp,  he  remarked: 

“That  was  a  singular  speech  of  Tommy’s,  to¬ 
night.” 

“But  singular  as  you  say  it  is,  it  is  not  more 
so  than  the  facts  it  related,”  was  the  response. 

“Then  you  believe  all  that  he  said?” 

“With  all  my  heart.  I  took  Tommy  to  raise 
at  the  age  of  ten  years,  when  his  father  died,  and 
I  have  never  known  of  his  making  the  least  step 
out  of  the  path  of  rectitude.  What  is  there  sin¬ 
gular  about  it?  Was  not  John  the  Baptist  filled 
with  the  Holy  Ghost  from  his  mother’s  womb?” 

“And  I  had  nothing  to  add,”  Elijah  remarked, 
as  he  told  the  story.  “More  than  that;  I  have 
casually  found  two  other  men  with  precisely  the 
same  story.  One  of  them  lived  at  Bartlett, 
Tenn.,  and  the  other  at  Fedora,  S.  Dak.  If  I  had 
gone  about  looking  for  women  with  the  same 
history,  I  presume  that  I  might  have  found  hun¬ 
dreds  during  the  same  time.” 


t 


V:  RIGHTEOUSNESS,  PEACE, 

AND  JOY 


It  is  surely  time  for  teachers  of  Chris - 
tianity  to  recognize  the  fact  that  soft  say¬ 
ings  about  virtue,  the  poetic  portrayals  of  a 
sentimental  God  who  loves  prayer  and  praise 
more  than  He  loves  righteousness  are  not 
likely  to  Christianize  the  world.  There 
must  be  more  iron  in  the  blood  of  the 
Church . 


Bishop  Leete. 


V 


Righteousness ,  Peace ,  and  Joy . 

“Hello,  there,  Americus,  come  out  to  the  gate 
a  moment.” 

“Hello,  Parson,  light  and  come  in.” 

“No,  Americus,  really  I  haven’t  the  time.  I 
shall  keep  you  only  a  moment.”  The  big  woods¬ 
man,  scarcely  twenty,  stuck  his  ax  into  the  chop¬ 
ping  block  and  lounged  out  to  the  gate.  He 
affectionately  twisted  the  fingers  of  his  right  hand 
in  the  mane  of  Green’s  thoroughbred,  squeezed 
the  minister’s  right  knee  playfully  with  his  left 
hand,  and  waited. 

“Americus,  I  have  something  very  important  to 
say  and  not  much  time  to  say  it  in.  You  know 
how  much  I  want  to  stop  this  barn  burning*?” 

“I  know  you  seem  to  be  interested  in  it  right 
sharply.” 

“Well,  I’ve  come  to  ask  you  to  stop  it.”  The 
big  fellow  shot  a  keen  glance  at  Green. 

“How  you  reckon  I  can  stop  it*?” 

“I’m  sure  I  don’t  know  exactly  how,  old  man. 
But  it’s  your  duty,  as  a  good  citizen,  to  put  an 
end  to  this  lawlessness.  You  are  on  good  terms 

with  the  rough  element,  and  I  feel  that  in  some 

91 


92  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

way  you  can  get  next  to  the  men  who  are  doing 
the  dirt.” 

“Do  I  look  like  a  spy,  Mr.  Green  ?” 

“Now,  here,  Americus,  we  must  back-fire  in 
this  case.  Somebody,  with  the  devil  in  his  heart, 
is  in  mighty  low-down  dirty  business,  destroying 
property.  Somebody  else,  with  the  love  of  God 
in  his  heart,  must  catch  that  fellow  with  the  devil 
in  his  heart.  I  say  that  you  are  the  man  for  the 
job.  I  don’t  know  how  you  will  do  it,  but  I 
fully  expect  results  in  a  week  or  two.” 

“You  sure  have  the  master  way  with  you,  ’Lije. 
,You  took  up  correctin’  the  rolls,  church  buildin’, 
repairin’,  debt  payin’,  harnessed  up  the  old  wheel 
bosses  an’  made  ’em  work.  As  the  pastor,  that 
was  your  duty.  But  this  here  matter  belongs  to 
the  law.  Seems  like  the  sheriff  is  the  one  to 
order  me  onto  this  work.” 

“He  is  the  one;  but  he  hasn’t  moved  in  the 
matter,  so  I  take  it  on  myself.  It’s  as  much  my 
duty  to  see  the  law  obeyed,  as  it  is  the  duty  of 
any  other  man.  It  is  every  good  citizen’s  duty, 
and  surely  a  minister  of  God  ought  to  be  a  good 
citizen.  Now,  Americus,  I’m  depending  on  you 
— don’t  fail  me.” 

Here  the  Rev.  Elijah  Green  touched  up  his 
horse  and  cantered  down  the  road  toward  Brown’s 
Camp  Ground.  Doogan  strolled  thoughtfully 


RIGHTEOUSNESS,  PEACE,  AND  JOY  93 

into  the  house  and  sat  down  in  his  bachelor 
quarters,  where  he  could  see  the  crayon  portraits 
of  his  father  and  mother.  Darkness  found  him 
there,  looking  at  those  pictures.  Then  he  aroused 
himself  and  said: 

“Well,  ’Lije  is  dependin’  on  me;  I’ll  not  fail.” 
He  now  ate  a  few  bites  and  went  to  bed.  Before 
daylight  he  was  on  his  way  to  the  county  seat, 
where  the  Grand  Jury  was  in  session. 

At  Brown’s  Camp  Ground,  the  minister  found 
his  building  committee  assembled  on  the  dot. 
tThey  had  learned  to  be  punctual  with  him.  He 
stood  before  the  pulpit  and  said: 

“Brethren,  we  have  talked  away  our  day  of 
grace  on  this  thing  of  building  a  new  church  for 
a  society  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  members,  whose 
taxables  amount,  in  the  aggregate,  to  $150,000. 
.There  is  a  particularly  cunning  devil  in  charge  of 
affairs  here — the  devil  of  penuriousness.  I  fear 
that  he  will  go  not  out,  except  by  prayer.  Let 
us  pray.” 

They  knelt,  and  the  minister,  in  an  intimately 
affectionate  manner,  told  their  Heavenly  Father 
how  the  forbears  of  these  men  had  laid  the  foun¬ 
dations  of  a  strong  spirituality  here  in  this  old 
log  meetinghouse.  Their  spirits  were  before 
The  Throne,  while  their  bodies  lay  in  the  ceme- 


94  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

tery  near  at  hand.  Their  work,  for  their  time, 
was  good,  but  it  must  be  followed  up  by  other 
good  work  in  this  day  and  time.  Numbers  had 
increased,  and  the  needs  of  the  people  had  grown 
in  many  ways.  A  new  building  was  necessary, 
but  the  neighborhood  was  split  into  seven  fac¬ 
tions,  so  it  seemed  impossible  to  get  the  people 
together  except  with  the  compelling  love  of  the 
All  Father.  Then,  with  melting  fervor,  he  asked 
God  to  remove  each  of  the  various  causes  of 
trouble,  carefully  going  over  them  seriatim,  espe¬ 
cially  to  take  away  all  cupidity,  selfishness, 
penuriousness  from  the  hearts  of  these  leaders. 
Soon  the  amens  began  to  roll  upward,  but  that 
shepherd  held  on,  and  prayed,  and  prayed,  and 
prayed.  At  last,  when  he  finished,  and  they 
were  about  to  rise,  while  he  was  still  on  his  knees, 
he  said: 

“Let  us  continue  in  prayer.  Brother  Frank 
Thomas,  lead  our  prayers.”  Never  in  his  life 
did  Brother  Thomas  want  to  pray  quite  so  badly. 
He  opened  up  by  telling  the  Lord  that  there  never 
was  such  a  set  of  money  lovers  and  money  getters 
as  the  people  of  that  church.  He  held  himself 
the  most  culpable  in  the  deadlock  about  build¬ 
ing,  because,  financially,  he  was  the  ablest  man 
in  the  church.  He  promised  the  Lord  to  do  any¬ 
thing  that  the  church  might  think  was  right. 
Then,  one  after  another,  each  of  the  committee 


RIGHTEOUSNESS,  PEACE,  AND  JOY  95 

was  called  upon  to  pray.  They  were  an  hour 
upon  their  knees.  When  at  last  they  arose,  the 
minister  said: 

“Now  we  are  ready  for  business.  Brother 
Gwarthmey,  make  a  minute  of  the  proceedings. 
Brother  Thomas,  what  is  your  contribution4?” 

“I  will  put  down  one  dollar  on  top  of  every 
dollar  subscribed  by  those  you  appointed  me  to 
solicit.” 

“To  what  will  that  amount?” 

“If  they  were  here  this  evening,  it  would  be  easy 
to  raise  a  thousand  dollars  from  them.  I  will 
guarantee  five  hundred.” 

Green  had  selected  for  the  building  committee 
these  seven  men,  representing  seven  factions  in 
the  society.  The  other  six  men  guaranteed 
$3,000.  In  the  later  Seventies  of  the  last  cen¬ 
tury,  $4,000  meant  a  building  above  the  average 
of  country  churches.  At  the  close,  this  hustler 
for  God  urged: 

“Now,  brethren,  it  will  be  necessary  to  get 
busy,  so  as  to  have  a  sum  on  hands  by  next  Mon¬ 
day  evening  at  seven  o’clock  large  enough  to  en¬ 
able  us  to  make  a  building  contract.  It  seems 
that  we  will  have  a  building  as  good  for  these 
times  as  this  house  was  for  your  forefathers’ 
day.” 

It  was  Green’s  practice  to  spend  every  night 


96  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

possible  in  his  bachelor  quarters  at  the  parsonage 
in  Mockville;  so  he  rode  home  that  night, 

As  recorded  elsewhere,  he  had  been  on  the 
supernumerary  list  for  two  years,  banking  money 
on  which  to  proceed,  without  hindrance  in  his 
loved  work  of  the  rural  ministry,  and  on  re¬ 
entering  the  effective  ranks  he  had  asked  for  the 
hardest  work  in  the  Conference.  He  had  re¬ 
ceived  this  six-class  circuit.  He  was  preaching 
three  times  every  Sunday;  getting  around  the 
circuit  for  preaching  and  prayer  meeting  once  in 
two  weeks. 

From  the  first,  he  had  set  a  new  pace  for  his 
people.  When  the  officiary  had  come  to  assess 
the  salary  for  Green,  he  had  said  with  finality 
that  he  asked  only  $350,  because  there  was 
so  much  required  for  benevolences,  repair  of 
churches,  debt-paying,  building,  etc.,  that  he 
wanted  the  salary  fixed  at  a  figure  which  could 
easily  be  paid.  It  was  urged  that  it  would  look 
bad  for  the  figures  on  the  Annual  Conference 
minutes  to  show  a  falling  off  on  the  assessment 
of  salary.  Green  replied  that  they  had  assessed 
themselves  $500  the  year  before  and  had  paid 
$367. 

“I  would  rather  for  you  to  promise  me  $350, 
and  pay  me  $351,  than  for  you  to  promise  $500, 
and  pay  only  $499.”  Some  one  said : 

“Let  Brother  Green  have  his  way,  even 


RIGHTEOUSNESS,  PEACE,  AND  JOY  97 

though  it  does  look  bad.”  The  minister  retorted: 

“It  seems  to  me  that  it  will  look  honest,  any- 
how.”  Thus  the  Rev.  Elijah  Green  took  the 
Decalogue  to  the  Mockville  Circuit. 

The  morning  after  the  meeting  at  Brown’s 
Camp  Ground  he  was  up  at  five;  a  plunge  in  the 
river;  breakfast  at  the  hotel;  three  hours  of 
study;  an  hour’s  correspondence;  dinner  at  the 
hotel;  away  to  Livonia  for  its  Tuesday  night 
prayer  meeting.  At  the  close  of  this  meeting,  he 
started  back  to  Mockville,  in  company  with 
Brother  Hurst,  who  lived  out  of  town  a  half  mile. 
When  well  out  of  town,  Hurst  remarked: 

“I  was  up  to  Karaden  to-day,  attending  circuit 
court.  You  might  have  knocked  me  down  with 
a  feather,  when  the  grand  jury  returned  that  in¬ 
dictment  against  Americus  Doogan.” 

“What  indictment*?”  roared  Green. 

“Why,  I  supposed  that  you  knew  all  about  it. 
He  says  that  you  convinced  him  that  he  ought  to 
confess  to  the  burning.” 

“Has  Americus  been  burning  the  barns*?” 

“He  says  he  has.  He  is  now  in  jail,  but  as 
happy  as  an  angel,  he  says.  He  wants  to  stand 
trial,  and  pay  the  penalty.” 

“Oh,  the  poor  boy.  Why,  Hurst,  this  is  sim¬ 
ply  awful.” 

“I  supposed  that  you  advised  him  to  plead 
guilty.” 


I 


98  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

“Not  I.  Why,  I  had  the  greatest  confidence 
in  him.  I  went  to  him  only  yesterday,  and  told 
him  that  I  wanted  him  to  stop  this  barn  burning.” 

“Well,  I  guess  he  has  stopped  it,  all  right. 
But  here  is  my  lane.  Good  night.” 

A  short  distance  further,  the  parson  came  to 
a  fork  in  the  road,  where  the  right  prong  led  to 
Karaden,  while  the  left  went  to  Mockville.  He 
took  the  right,  and  at  midnight  he  went  to  bed 
in  a  hotel  in  a  county  seat,  instead  of  the  par¬ 
sonage  at  Mockville.  He  was  up  early  the  next 
morning,  and  went  to  see  William  Tracy,  the 
best  lawyer  in  town.  He  employed  him  and 
asked : 

“What  can  be  done  for  this  boy  Doogan?” 

“I  don’t  know  anything,  except  to  recommend 
him  for  clemency.” 

“What  will  the  penalty  be?” 

“Two  years  and  upward  in  the  penitentiary.” 

“But  in  view  of  his  contrition  and  confession, 
can  we  not  get  the  barn  owners  satisfied,  and  keep 
him  out  of  prison?” 

“If  he  could  and  would  pay  for  the  property 
he  has  destroyed,  and  the  owners  of  the  property 
should  ask  for  it,  we  might  get  the  indictment 
quashed.” 

“Well,  I  shall  bring  up  every  man  who  has 
suffered  loss,  and  they  will  all  ask  for  the  indict- 


RIGHTEOUSNESS,  PEACE,  AND  JOY  99 

ment  to  be  quashed.  When  will  his  case  be 
called*?” 

“To-day,  probably.  Doogan  threw  himself 
entirely  on  the  court  and  declared  that  he  would 
not  employ  counsel.  But  the  court  appointed  my 
son  Bob  his  counsel.  Bob  doesn’t  see  any  way 
out,  except  to  plead  for  the  clemency  of  the  court. 
Americus  says  that  he  has  been  burning  the  barns 
of  men  who  have  wronged  his  parents  or  himself, 
but  he  now  sees  that  he  was  all  wrong.  He  has 
a  little  property  and  he  wants  it  divided  among 
the  barn  owners.  He  made  quite  a  little  speech 
and  told  the  court  that  you  had  inadvertently 
convinced  him  of  the  wrong  of  the  barn  burning. 
He  said: 

“  *1  want  to  reimburse  the  owners  as  far  as 
possible  for  their  losses,  and  then  I  wish  to  pay 
the  penalty  for  the  crimes/  ” 

“Well,  when  the  case  comes  up,  have  it  post¬ 
poned  until  to-morrow.  I  shall  then  have  all  of 
the  barn  owners  in  court.  Don’t  tell  Americus 
that  I  have  been  here.  I’ll  go  straight  down 
into  the  Buck  Creek  country.  I  am  personally 
acquainted  with  every  man  who  has  been  injured, 
and  can  influence  all  of  them  to  let  him  off.” 

“I  trust  that  you  are  not  mistaken,  Parson.  I 
know  those  men,  and  am  afraid  you  will  have 
hard  sledding.” 


100  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

“You’ll  see.  Good-by,  till  to-morrow.’7 

If  Tracy  had  known  the  argument  that  Green 
was  going  to  use  with  the  barn  owners,  he  would 
not  have  been  so  skeptical  of  his  success. 

Green  was  glad  that  he  bestrode  a  good  horse 
before  he  got  to  bed  that  night.  Otherwise,  he 
would  not  have  seen  all  live  of  his  men.  He  had 
learned  the  damage  to  each  and  had  then  asked: 

“If  I  make  good  this  loss  with  cash,  will  you 
ask  the  court  to  quash  the  indictment?”  They 
had  all  acquiesced  in  this  arrangement,  taking  his 
check  in  payment.  He  had  enjoined  secrecy  on 
each  and  had  stayed  all  night  with  Amos  Turner, 
the  last  man  he  saw. 

These  men  were  present  with  Green  in  court 
when  the  case  was  called.  The  judge  had  been 
privately  informed  of  what  they  wanted  to  do, 
so  he  did  not  call  for  the  prisoner.  The  Tracys 
presented  their  petition  to  have  the  indictment 
quashed,  and  the  prosecuting  attorney  moved  that 
it  be  so  ordered.  The  clerk  made  the  necessary 
entry,  after  which  the  barn  owners  and  Green 
left  the  court  and  went  to  the  jail.  Americus  was 
astounded  when  he  was  told  that  he  was  free. 
Then  his  pastor  sternly  inquired : 

“Americus,  why  have  you,  a  member  of  the 
church,  so  shamefully  abused  my  confidence?” 
The  boy  replied: 

“I  joined  the  church  and  professed  religion  so 


RIGHTEOUSNESS,  PEACE,  AND  JOY  101 

as  to  be  on  equal  footing  with  these  other  hypo¬ 
crites.  They  all  belong  to  the  church,  but  they 
all  injured  either  my  parents  or  myself.  I  saw 
that  the  church  covered  their  dirt,  so  I  used  it 
to  hide  mine.  But,  ’Lijey,  you  convinced  me  that 
I  was  all  wrong,  even  while  you  thought  I  was 
all  right.” 

“Tell  me,  in  the  presence  of  these  men,  just 
what  these  wrongs  are.” 

“You  see,  Parson,  my  father  and  mother  were 
both  good  Christians,  and  they  believed  every¬ 
body  else  was  like  them.  My  father  was  a  handy 
man  in  all  of  the  woodworking  trades.  He  could 
make  barrels,  furniture,  coffins,  and  could  build 
houses  and  barns.  He  got  together  some  money 
and  bought  a  piece  of  land.  After  he  had  put 
good  buildings  on  it,  Josh  Hammond,  here,  sold 
him  a  sawmill  for  a  small  cash  payment  and  his 
note,  secured  by  a  mortgage  on  the  place.  Dad 
worked  hard  at  the  mill,  but  lumber  went  down, 
and  the  mill,  being  well  worn  when  he  bought 
it,  petered  out.  Dad  asked  for  more  time,  but 
Josh  foreclosed  and  got  the  place  he  is  now  liv¬ 
ing  on,  with  the  buildings. 

“Dad  scrapped  the  old  mill  for  less  than  a 
hundred  dollars  and  moved  to  Lavonia  to  open 
a  cabinet  shop  with  the  fine  walnut  and  other 
lumber,  which  he  could  not  sell.  Furniture  was 
slow  sale  in  a  small  place  like  Lavonia,  so  Dad, 


102  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

working  all  the  time,  built  up  a  fine  stock,  over 
and  above  the  sales.  He  was  on  a  dicker  with  a 
man  in  Karaden  for  a  fair  price  for  the  whole 
stock,  when  Gus  Connell  comes  along  and  offers 
him  a  herd  of  horses  for  it.  The  horses  looked 
like  a  whole  lot  better  trade  than  the  Karaden 
man  had  been  offering,  so  Dad  took  Gus  up.  Gus 
didn’t  tell  Dad  that  he  had  lost  a  hoss  the  day 
before  with  the  glanders.  All  but  one  died  inside 
of  a  month. 

“That  left  Dad  depending  on  contract  work. 
He  built  a  house  for  Hank  Woodell.  A  year 
passed  without  Dad  getting  a  settlement  from 
Hank,  so  Dad  sued  him  on  a  mechanic’s  lien.  It 
turned  out  that  the  house  was  on  land  belonging 
to  Hank’s  wife.  Dad  ought  to  have  sued  her, 
but  he  said,  CI  hope  I  am  too  much  of  a  gentle¬ 
man  to  go  to  law  with  a  lady.5 

“Then  Billy  Woods  pretended  to  give  Dad  an 
acre  of  land  to  build  a  house  on.  My  mother 
died  there,  three  year  ago.  You  know,  Parson, 
it’s  a  mighty  nice  little  home.  It’s  right  in  the 
woods,  but  handy  to  the  store,  school,  post-office, 
the  meeting  house,  and  other  places.  No  deed 
ever  passed,  so  when  Dad  died  a  little  over  a  year 
ago,  Billy  told  me  he  must  have  possession.  I 
hated  awful  bad  to  give  the  place  up,  so  I  per¬ 
suaded  him  to  let  me  pay  him  for  it  with  farm 
work.  I  worked  six  months  for  an  acre  of  land 


RIGHTEOUSNESS,  PEACE,  AND  JOY  103 

worth  about  twenty-five  dollars  before  Dad  built 
on  it. 

“After  Mother’s  death,  Dad  bought  a  peddling 
route,  team  and  wagon  from  Amos  Turner.  He 
went  along,  paying  on  his  outfit  every  month  for 
a  year,  when  one  of  the  hosses  died.  Dad  had 
paid  about  four-fifths  of  the  purchase  price,  and 
had  the  best  hoss  of  the  team  left.  He  wanted  to 
swap  the  wagon  for  a  one-hoss  wagon,  and  go 
on  peddlin’,  but  the  note  was  due  and  Turner 
sued  on  the  chattel  mortgage  and  got  the  hoss 
an’  wagon. 

“That  seemed  to  take  all  the  whey  out  of  Dad, 
an’  he  died  a  short  time  afterwards.  While  I  was 
workin’  that  six  months  for  Billy  Woods,  I 
studied  a  lot  on  the  skulduggery  of  these  men 
and  concluded  I  would  get  even  with  them.  I 
kept  friendly  with  them,  an’  as  I  belonged  to  the 
church,  nobody  suspected  me  of  barn  burning. 
Of  course,  neither  Dad  nor  Mother  would  have 
agreed  to  it.  You  arguing  about  it  all  the  time 
thinking  some  one  else  was  guilty,  convinced  me 
I  ought  to  confess  the  crimes  and  suffer  the  con¬ 
sequences.” 

These  five  men  had  stood  with  bowed  heads 
while  Americus  had  gone  through  with  his  merci¬ 
less  recital.  At  the  close,  there  was  a  silent  mo¬ 
ment.  Amos  Turner  first  relieved  the  tension. 

“So  far  as  I  am  concerned,  Parson,  I  won’t 


104  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

have  anything  for  my  barn.  Here  is  your  check. 
Americus  has  told  the  truth  about  me.  I  see  how 
he  was  trying  to  right  his  wrongs.  It  doesn’t 
help  my  case  any  to  know  that  he  went  about  it 
in  the  wrong  way.  He  is  doubly  orphaned,  and 
having  no  one  to  advise  him,  he  took  vengeance 
himself,  instead  of  leaving  it  to  God.”  Now  the 
the  rest  of  them  gave  their  checks  back  to  Green, 
Doogan  slowly  comprehending  the  part  his  pas¬ 
tor  had  taken.  He  burst  out: 

“  ’Lijey,  did  you  pay  these  men  for  the  barns 
I  burnt?” 

Green  was  speechless,  for  he  had  not  wanted 
Doogan  to  know  of  what  he  had  done.  Billy 
Woods  impulsively  exclaimed: 

“Yes,  ’Mericus,  ’Lijey  saved  you — ” 

“And  all  the  rest  of  us,”  solemnly  intoned  Amos 
Turner.  “He  has  saved  us  from  sharp  dealings 
and  hypocrisy.  For  my  part,  I  work  righteous¬ 
ness  from  this  day.” 

“And  so  will  I,”  added  all  the  others. 

“Let  us  all  go  home  to  dinner  with  Americus. 
We  can  make  it  by  riding  a  little  hard.  We 
will  take  along  oysters,  ham,  and  other  stuff  for 
a  big  spread — have  a  regular  stag  party.  There 
won’t  be  a  woman  in  a  quarter  of  a  mile.  Then 
we  will  drum  up  a  big  crowd  for  the  prayer  meet¬ 
ing  at  Rehobeth,  to-night.  I  want  to  talk  about 
righteousness  and  peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy 


RIGHTEOUSNESS,  PEACE,  AND  JOY  105 

Ghost.  This  people  always  had  the  joy,  seem- 
ingly.  But  the  Bible  puts  righteousness  first, 
then  peace,  and  then  joy.  We  shall  take  right¬ 
eousness  and  peace  to  the  Rehobeth  meeting 
-to-night,  and  there  will  be  joy  a-plenty.” 

It  is  small  wonder  that  afterwards  young 
Doogan  placed  the  Rev.  Elijah  Green  on  the 
highest  pedestal. 

Rotterdam  was  a  point  on  Green’s  Circuit 
situated  in  Rosey  County,  while  the  rest  of  the 
charge  lay  in  Hendrix  County.  In  ail  civic  and 
commercial  ways  it  v/as  separate  and  apart  from 
the  other  parts  of  the  circuit.  In  May  of  his 
first  year,  Green  went  to  Rotterdam  for  his 
regular  Sunday  evening  appointment,  with  the 
asthma  worrying  him.  He  always  remained  in 
Rotterdam  over  Tuesday  evening  for  prayer 
meeting,  because  it  was  so  difficult  to  return  to 
Mockville  from  that  point.  But  when  time  came 
to  return  to  Mockville  on  Wednesday,  he  was 
so  sick  that  he  could  not  stir  out.  He  asked  a 
friend  to  write  to  Uncle  Hal  Lucas,  in  Mockville, 
what  was  the  matter.  In  those  days,  mail  be¬ 
tween  little  inland  post-offices  played  queer 
freaks,  and  Uncle  Hal  did  not  get  the  letter. 

Green  did  not  get  to  Mockville  until  the  next 
Wednesday.  As  he  was  riding  into  the  village, 
he  met  and  spoke  to  a  little  boy  of  ten,  with 


106  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

whom  he  was  familiar.  The  boy  returned  his 
salutation  with  a  stare  and  passed  on.  All  whom 
he  met  showed  incivility — no  one  spoke  to  him. 
Deeply  troubled,  he  put  up  his  horse,  and  sought 
Elkanah  Jones,  next  door.  Mr.  Jones  saw  him 
through  the  windows,  and  stepping  to  the  door, 
stood  outside  on  the  porch,  truculent  and  uncivil. 

“Kaney,  do  tell  me  what  is  the  matter  with 
the  people  in  this  place;  I  haven’t  had  a  civil 
look  since  I  entered  the  town.” 

“Perhaps  Americus  Doogan  can  inform  you — 
if  you  should  find  him  sober  enough,”  curtly  re¬ 
sponded  the  neighbor. 

“Where  is  Americus?” 

“I  saw  him  go  into  Whalley’s  saloon,  an  hour 
ago,”  said  Kaney,  as  he  turned  and  reentered 
the  house,  closing  the  door  after  him. 

The  minister  whirled  and  walked  rapidly 
down  town.  He  saw  Doogan,  unsteadily  making 
his  way  along  the  opposite  sidewalk.  In  a  mo¬ 
ment,  the  men  faced  each  other.  The  minister 
impulsively  seized  the  drunken  man’s  arm. 

“Americus,  old  man,  you’ve  got  to  go  home 
with  me.”  Doogan  had  recoiled  at  first,  but  that 
touch  on  the  arm  reached  his  heart,  and  he  went 
along  without  a  word.  The  man  looked  hag¬ 
gard,  as  well  as  drunk.  The  minister  rightly  sur¬ 
mised  that  he  had  been  carousing  and  had  not 


RIGHTEOUSNESS,  PEACE,  AND  JOY  107 

slept  lately,  so  he  got  him  to  bed.  Shortly  he 
was  in  a  profound  slumber. 

It  was  noon,  and  Green  ate  a  few  bites  from 
a  store  of  things  he  kept  in  the  house  for  emer¬ 
gencies.  He  could  only  wait,  with  his  feelings 
in  a  turmoil.  What  could  the  matter  be?  At 
supper  time,  he  again  ate  in  the  parsonage.  At 
daylight  on  Thursday,  Americus  awoke. 

“Good  morning,  Americus;  have  you  had  a 
good  nap?” 

cTm  in  the  parsonage — ain’t  I?” 

“Surely.  Been  here  since  yesterday.  This  is 
Thursday.  Come,  now;  pull  yourself  together, 
and  tell  me  how  you  came  to  get  drunk.” 

“Why,  it  was  the  report  of  your  trouble  over 
at  Rotterdam.” 

“You  mean  to  say  that  my  little  attack  of 
asthma  threw  you  off  your  kazipp?” 

“Now,  here,  Parson,  Sam  Billings  was  over  to 
Greenmont,  the  day  you  was  bound  over,  on  your 
own  recognizance,  for  a  statutory  offense  against 
a  girl  twelve  years  old.” 

In  all  of  Green’s  imaginings  of  what  could  be 
the  matter,  nothing  like  this  had  occurred  to  him. 
While  the  man  lay  asleep,  he  had  said  a  thou¬ 
sand  times: 

“I  must  be  calm  when  the  blow  comes.  I  must 
not  allow  my  feelings  to  get  beyond  control.” 


108  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

So,  with  all  the  powers  of  his  soul,  he  mastered 
his  impulses.  But  the  effort  stupiffed  him  for  a 
moment,  in  which  he  sat  vacantly  staring  at 
Doogan.  At  last,  in  a  thin  voice,  he  asked : 

“Who  is  Sam  Billings ?” 

“He  is  the  owner  of  the  sawmill  on  Buck 
Creek,  about  a  mile  above  where  you  ford,  going 
to  Lavonia.”  Then  very  wistfully,  he  added: 

“Say,  ’Lijey,  tell  me  it  ain’t  so.” 

“It  is  utterly  false.”  Then  that  big  fellow 
groveled  on  the  floor  at  the  minister’s  feet,  which 
he  caught  in  his  hands  and  kissed. 

“Oh,  ’Lijey,  ’  Lijey,  forgive  me,  forgive  me. 
When  you  didn’t  come  to  Rehobeth  last  Sunday 
afternoon,  every  one  was  wondering  what  was 
the  matter.  I  rode  down  here  Monday  morning, 
to  find  out  what  was  the  matter.  I  met  Sam 
Billings  at  the  Buck  Creek  Ford  and  told  him 
what  I  was  coming  down  here  for.  He  said  that 
you  had  been  taken  from  Rotterdam  to  Green- 
mont  by  the  sheriff,  and  that  he  saw  you  there  in 
court  on  Saturday.  It  jest  nachelly  upset  me, 
Parson,  an’  I  come  on  down  to  Mockville  in  a 
whoop — been  drunker’n  a  b’iled  owl  ever  since.” 

“Well,  let’s  have  some  breakfast;  then  I’ll  go 
to  see  Mr.  Billings.” 

“All  right;  I’ll  go  with  you.” 

“No,  I  prefer  to  go  alone.  I  shall  be  back  in 


RIGHTEOUSNESS,  PEACE,  AND  JOY  109 

an  hour  or  two.  You  stay  here  in  the  parsonage. 
Don’t  go  near  the  saloon.” 

“You  needn’t  fear.” 

These  men  had  frequently  entertained  each 
other  at  their  bachelor  quarters,  when  they  “flew 
in”  and  helped  each  other  with  the  housekeeping. 
Green  preferred  not  to  go  down  town  for  break¬ 
fast.  His  feelings  had  been  cruelly  hurt,  and  he 
shrank  from  meeting  people  who  had  lost  faith 
in  him,  even  on  account  of  a  falsehood.  He 
would  come  back  from  Sam  Billings’s  mill  with 
a  complete  vindication,  when  every  one’s  trust 
would  be  entirely  restored  and  strengthened.  At 
the  table,  Doogan  tentatively  inquired: 

“What  do  you  propose  to  do  when  you  get  to 
the  mill?’ 

“Circumstances  must  govern  the  case.  Maybe 
I  shall  feel  under  obligations  to  beat  the  devil 
out  of  Mr.  Billings.” 

“Ain’t  that  rough  language  for  a  preacher- 
man?” 

“It  is  pretty  rough.  But  when  you  come  to 
think  of  it,  it  is  not  so  bad  as  it  sounds.  We 
prayed  the  devil  of  penuriousness  out  of  Brown’s 
Camp  Ground.  The  devil  of  falsehood  must 
come  out  of  Billings — what’s  the  matter  with 
knocking  it  out?” 

After  breakfast,  the  shepherd  grimly  mounted, 


110  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

and  started  out  to  find  the  wolf  who  had  torn 
his  lamb. 

Green  had  been  gone  scarcely  a  half  hour, 
when  a  packet  came  down  the  river  with  the  mail. 
The  postmaster  handed  a  letter  to  Hal  Lucas,  the 
spiritual  patriarch  of  the  village.  This  letter 
was  postmarked  “Rotterdam,”  and  should  have 
come  over  the  route  via  Greenmont  and  Karaden. 
The  old  man  read  it  and  shouted  to  a  large  crowd 
assembled  in  the  post-office  lobby: 

“All  of  you  listen  to  this  letter:  ‘Rotterdam, 
May  1,  1878.  Dear  Brother  Lucas:  Brother 
Green  is  sick,  and  the  doctor  says  that  he  may 
not  be  able  to  leave  here  for  a  week.  Fraternally, 
Charles  Ringgold.’  This  letter  was  written  a 
week  ago  yesterday.  Where  are  we  at?” 

“We  are  right  at  the  proposition  that  Sam 
Billings  has  told  a  extry  big  lie,”  said  Jim  Ander¬ 
son.  Immediately  a  great  uproar  arose.  Instinc¬ 
tively,  the  crowd  started  toward  the  parsonage. 
Every  one  knew  that  the  minister  had  taken 
Doogan  home  the  day  before,  and  that  he  had 
ridden  out  the  Lavonia  road  that  morning.  But 
no  one  had  seen  Americus  that  day,  and  the  liv¬ 
eryman  said  that  his  nag  was  still  in  the  stable. 
When,  in  response  to  their  call,  Doogan  appeared 
at  the  door  of  the  parsonage,  Lucas  waved  the 
letter  and  said: 


RIGHTEOUSNESS,  PEACE,  AND  JOY  111 

“Americus,  we  have  been  all  wrong  about  the 
preacher.  He  has  been  sick  in  Rotterdam. 
Where  is  he  now*?” 

“He’s  went  to  Billings’s  mill  to  piously  beat 
the  devil  out  of  Sam  Billings  for  lying  to 
me. 

Lucas  exclaimed : 

“Some  of  you  fellows  follow  him  quick.  Sam’s 
too  big  a  man  for  ’Lijey  to  tackle  alone.”  Sev¬ 
eral  husky  young  men  rushed  off  for  horses,  and 
Lucas  continued  solemnly: 

“Now,  the  rest  of  us  will  go  to  the  church  and 
pray  till  Brother  Green  gets  back  to  town.  We 
must  ask  God  to  forgive  us  for  doubting  such  a 
good  man.” 

When  Green  reached  the  mill,  Billings  was 
alone,  filing  his  saw.  Glancing  up,  he  saw  the 
minister  tying  his  horse  to  the  fence.  He  rose, 
greatly  agitated. 

“Now,  Parson,  I  know  what  you’ve  come  for. 
Stay  right  there  for  a  minute,  an’  let  me  tell  you 
all  about  this  here  business.”  Green  stood  still, 
and  Billings  continued:  “I  know  how  Americus 
worships  the  ground  you  walk  on,  so  I  jest  wanted 
to  see  how  he  would  take  sech  a  tale  about  you, 
expectin’  to  correct  it  ’fore  we  separated.  But 
the  second  he  heerd  it,  he  dug  his  heels  into  his 
hoss,  an’  went  toward  Mockville  like  a  crazy 


112  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

man.  I  followed  him  to  straighten  it  out,  but 
was  afraid  to  explain  after  I  got  there.” 

“What  were  you  afraid  of?” 

“Afraid  the  people  would  lick  me.  I  never 
saw  such  excitement.  Women  an’  children 
screamed  as  though  some  one  was  dead.  Old 
Hal  Lucas  swore  like  a  pirate.” 

“Well,  you’ve  only  put  off  the  licking  to  this 
present  moment,  for  I’m  going  to  lick  you  to  an 
attenuated  frazzle.  You  unbalanced  the  char¬ 
acter  of  a  man  as  a  cold-blooded  experiment,  and 
you  deserve  the  worst  I  can  do  for  you.” 

Green  had  forgotten  his  own  wrongs  in  his  hot 
indignation  for  the  wrong  that  had  been  done 
Doogan.  He  took  off  his  coat,  vest,  and  collar, 
and  climbed  the  fence.  But  Billings,  a  great 
fighter  himself,  made  no  move.  Instead  he  said 
conciliatorially : 

“There’s  a  better  way  to  settle  the  thing, 
Parson.  Anyhow,  you  don’t  get  any  fight  out  of 
me.”  Green  had  come  close. 

“Are  you  afraid?” 

“No,  sir,  I’m  not  afraid;  seein’  I  weigh  fifty 
pounds  more’n  you  do,  an’  I’ve  scrapped  men  fifty 
pounds  heavier’n  I  am.  I’m  nachelly  ashamed 
of  the  whole  thing,  an’  want  to  do  all  I  can  be¬ 
fore  the  public  to  make  it  right.  I  propose  to 
go  to  Mockville,  get  the  people  together  in  the 


RIGHTEOUSNESS,  PEACE,  AND  JOY  113 

church,  an5  let  me  tell  ’em  the  plain  straight  of 
the  thing.  Now,  if  nothin’  but  a  fight  will  suit 
you,  it  will  be  a  one-sided  fight,  for  I  don’t  in¬ 
tend  to  lift  my  hand.”  After  a  moment,  Green 
said: 

“All  right;  get  your  horse,  and  we’ll  go  to 
Mockville.  But  aren’t  you  afraid  to  go  there ?” 

“Not  with  you  along.” 

They  had  gone  but  a  short  distance  when  they 
met  the  squad  which  Lucas  had  sent  after  Green. 
Billings  explained,  and  they  all  returned  to  town 
together.  They  went  directly  to  the  church. 
The  minister  and  the  liar  marched  up  the  aisle 
together.  Americus  was  on  the  front  seat  of  the 
Amen  corner.  Green  faced  the  audience: 

“Brethren,  there  has  been  a  misunderstanding. 
Mr.  Billings  will  make  everything  clear.” 
Billings  said: 

“Mr.  Green  is  kind  enough  to  call  it  a  mis¬ 
understanding.  The  fact  is  that  it  is  a  plain, 
fine  large  lie  out  of  whole  cloth.  I  jest  wanted 
to  see  how  much  faith  Americus  had  in  Mr. 
Green.  I  had  no  idee  it  would  tear  up  things  as 
it  has.  I  ax  all  of  your  pardon.  Most  special 
I  ax  Americus’s  pardon.  It  was  the  lowest  down, 
dirtiest  lie  I  ever  told.  An’,  neighbors,  I’m  done 
with  lyin’.  I’ll  never  tell  another  lie.”  Jim  An¬ 
derson  arose  and  said : 


114  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

“Sam,  you  are  such  an  awful  liar,  that  we  can 
hardly  believe  you  when  you  say  that  you  will 
never  lie  again/' 

“I  know  that  generally  I  have  been  a  liar,  but 
this  time  I’m  telling  the  truth.  I’ll  never  lie 
again.” 

Green  now  entered  the  pulpit  and  preached  a 
most  searching  sermon  against  falsehood.  From 
that  meeting  a  passion  for  righteousness  spread 
over  the  entire  circuit.  Right  in  the  busy  corn¬ 
planting  season,  a  revival  started  which  brought 
numbers  into  the  church  to  fill  up  the  gaps  where 
Green  had  cut  out  “dead  timber.”  He  had  been 
told  that  dropping  so  many  names  from  the  roll 
would  look  bad  in  the  statistics;  but  the  Mock- 
ville  statistics  showed  up  very  well  after  all,  in 
the  Annual  Conference  minutes. 


VI:  WHEN  ELIJAH  FAILED 


The  safety  of  all  we  have  is  due  to  the 
churches ,  even  in  their  present  inefficient 
and  inactive  state.  By  all  that  we  hold 
dear>  let  us  from  this  very  day  give  more 
time ,  money ,  and  thought  to  the  churches  of 
our  city ,  for  upon  these  the  value  of  all  we 
own  ultimately  depends. 

Roger  W.  Babson. 


VI 


When  Elijah  Failed 

I  introduced  the  Rev.  Elijah  Green  to  the 
reader  on  a  railroad  train  in  Wyoming,  in  the 
later  years  of  his  ministry.  His  work,  related  in 
other  parts  of  this  book,  has  fallen  in  different 
parts  of  the  Union.  Singular  to  relate,  his  “pile” 
was  a  bar  to  settlement  for  any  length  of  time 
in  any  one  Conference.  He  found  several  diffi¬ 
culties  constantly  cropping  out,  wherever  it  be¬ 
came  known  that  he  had  $1,000  a  year  income 
besides  his  salary  as  pastor.  It  had  a  tendency 
to  pauperize  his  people;  it  worked  hardship  on 
his  successors  who  could  not  lay  off  work  on  his 
liberal  lines;  it  furnished  excuses  for  delin¬ 
quencies.  So  he  was  constantly  on  the  move 
from  one  Conference  to  another.  After  a  few 
years,  he  became  so  well  acquainted  with  the  gen¬ 
eral  needs  of  the  churches  over  the  country  that 
he  knew  just  where  he  had  better  go.  While  he 
said  that  he  took  what  the  Bishop  gave  him,  that 
was  generally  the  hardest  problem  in  the  Confer¬ 
ence  where  he  had  just  moved — because  the 
bishops  came  to  know  him  and  his  penchant  for 
difficult  tasks. 


117 


118  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

This  chapter  will  show  Elijah  on  a  frontier 
circuit  between  the  great  Sioux  reservations  on 
the  east,  and  the  Black  Hills  on  the  west.  It  was 
in  a  country  where  he  had  soldiered.  He  liked 
the  rough-and-tumble,  catch-as-you-can  society  of 
the  region,  and  generally  held  his  own  in  the 
numerous  gusty  encounters  among  the  cowboys 
and  early  farmers  of  that  country.  But  I  am 
going  to  tell  of  one  of  his  failures.  It  would  be 
easy,  like  Peter  Cartwright,  to  speak  of  his  suc¬ 
cesses  only,  but  that  might  leave  the  impression 
that  he  never  failed,  which  would  be  contrary  to 
the  experience  of  my  readers,  contrary  to  history, 
and  contrary  to  most  romance. 

Among  the  first  friends  that  Elijah  made  was 
an  upstanding,  hard-riding,  downright  fellow  by 
the  name  of  McLeod,  who  owned  the  W.  D. 
brand  and  ranch.  McLeod  was  a  good  citizen,  as 
citizens  went  in  those  days;  never  cheated  at 
cards — nor  allowed  any  one  else  to  cheat  where 
he  was  playing;  hated  sheep  and  sheep  herders 
with  a  sort  of  religiosity;  drank  a  little,  but  never 
got  drunk — that  is,  he  never  lost  control  of  his 
legs;  had  served  on  vigilance  committees  on  occa¬ 
sions,  but  had  prevented  prejudice  and  personal 
spite  from  doing  harm  several  times;  would  fight, 
when  he  had  to,  with  vim  and  vigor,  but  never 
sought  a  quarrel;  in  short,  was  generally  known 
as  a  “jam-up  good  man.” 


WHEN  ELIJAH  FAILED 


119 


This  son  of  nature  “fell  for”  the  pretty  face 
and  quiet  ways  of  Dolly  Mizquet,  the  daughter 
of  a  farmer  whom  McLeod  had  induced  to 
migrate  from  Illinois  to  the  cattle  country.  This 
family  of  three  boys,  three  girls,  the  father  and 
mother,  had  brought  quite  a  vogue  of  culture 
into  the  country.  Dolly  played  the  organ,  and 
all  of  the  rest  sang  in  the  choir.  They  all  be¬ 
longed  to  the  church  in  Illinois,  and  it  was 
natural  for  Elijah  to  expect  that  the  entire 
family  would  join  the  church  at  Fairbrook,  when 
it  would  come  time  to  organize. 

Although  Robert  McLeod  was  born  and  reared 
west  of  the  Missouri,  he  found  that  he  liked  the 
Mizquets.  It  was  his  first  experience  in  church¬ 
going,  but  he  took  kindly  to  it.  His  father,  from 
old  Scotch  Presbyterian  stock,  had  always  read 
his  Bible  for  the  polemical  points  he  could  find 
in  it,  although  his  everyday  life  had  been  sadly 
deficient  in  Christian  graces  and  virtues.  He 
often  said:  “I  know  better  than  I  do.” 

These  Mizquets  were  different,  only  in  respect 
of  the  time  they  had  been  in  the  West.  Pro¬ 
fessing  Christians,  when  they  have  no  vital  Chris¬ 
tian  experience,  who  are  going  along  in  a  Chris¬ 
tian  community,  living  tolerably  good  lives, 
succumb  easily,  and  fall  away  readily,  when 
they  remove  to  new  scenes  where  restraints  are 
not  so  strong.  Elijah  felt  that  he  had  come  in 


120  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

time  to  keep  the  Mizquets  in  line  with  the  best 
in  the  Christian  life.  He  announced  a  protracted 
meeting  at  Fairbrook  on  his  third  round,  which 
fell  about  the  first  of  December. 

On  the  Sunday  afternoon  of  this  round,  Elijah 
was  annoyed  by  a  game  of  baseball  on  the  prairie, 
in  plain  view  from  the  open  windows.  It  was 
a  lovely  day  for  December  in  Dakota,  and  the 
youngsters  couldn’t  afford  to  see  it  go  to  waste 
by  sitting  in  a  stuffy  old  schoolhouse.  The 
Mizquets  with  McLeod,  some  elderly  people  who 
were  afraid  of  catching  cold,  and  some  children 
who  were  made  to  attend,  constituted  the  audi¬ 
ence  that  Sunday  afternoon. 

This  was  the  third  time  that  McLeod  had 
heard  Green,  and  he  was  a  deeply  interested  lis¬ 
tener.  That  afternoon,  he  made  the  round  of 
the  stores  and  drummed  up  a  crowd  for  the  eve¬ 
ning  service.  The  next  day,  he  and  three  other 
cowboys  went  over  the  country,  urging  the  peo¬ 
ple  to  attend  the  meetings,  and  the  crowds 
steadily  increased  until  Wednesday  night,  when 
the  house  was  packed.  > 

Elijah’s  round  of  themes  in  a  revival  was  Sin, 
Penitence,  New  Birth,  Pardon;  and  he  preached 
this  round  over  and  over.  A  change  of  subject 
and  text  on  each  recurrence  of  the  theme  gave  the 
variety  which  prevented  his  audience  from  notic- 


WHEN  ELIJAH  FAILED 


121 


ing  that  there  was  any  particular  method  in  his 
program.  On  Sunday  afternoon,  he  had  preached 
on  Sin  in  a  graphic  way,  from  the  subject,  “The 
Vandal  of  the  Soul.”  He  had  returned  to  Sin 
on  Wednesday  night  and  treated  it  as  the  deadly, 
repulsive,  damning  thing  that  it  is.  He  closed 
with  the  words: 

“Sin  debauches  and  disfigures  the  body;  pol¬ 
lutes  and  defiles  the  imagination;  blunts  and 
brutalizes  the  sensibilities;  binds  and  enslaves  the 
will;  beclouds  the  intellect.  Sin  cripples  the  in¬ 
dividual;  disrupts  the  community;  undermines 
society;  overthrows  the  state.  Sin  is  the  hideous 
serpent  whose  slimy  path  winds  in  and  out 
through  history,  making  it  a  stench  to  God  and 
man.  Sin  stultifies  art;  drags  literature  into  the 
bogs  of  putridity;  misdirects  science  onto  the  * 
mountains  of  sophistry  and  falsehood ;  creeps  into 
the  sanctuary  itself  and  drives  out  the  very  elect 
into  the  desert  of  error  and  schism.  I  call  on  you 
to-night  to  break  with  sin.  I  ask  you  here  and 
now  to  begin  earnestly  to  extirpate  it  from  your 
own  body  and  soul,  as  the  personal  duty  you  owe 
yourself.  I  ask  you  to  drive  it  out  of  your  com¬ 
munity  and  make  a  godly  citizenry  of  the  ro¬ 
bust  inhabitants  of  these  plains ;  I  ask  you  to  look 
to  the  future  and  plan  for  a  clear-eyed,  straight- 
limbed,  clean-lived  race  of  descendants  who  will 


122  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

fear  God,  tell  the  truth,  and  make  money.  This 
ought  to  be  the  wish  of  every  thoughtful  man. 
Let  every  one  who  wants  to  see  this  country  a 
decent,  law-abiding,  respectable  place  to  live  in, 
and  to  raise  children  in,  rise  to  his  feet.”  Every¬ 
body  got  up.  Possibly  right  there  was  where 
Elijah  made  the  wrong  move.  But  such  a  spon¬ 
taneous,  unanimous  movement  has  a  bewildering 
effect  on  the  oldest  campaigners.  He  contin¬ 
ued  : 

“Now,  while  you  are  on  your  feet,  let  every 
one  who  will  go  into  an  organization  whose  ob¬ 
ject  is  to  root  out  sin  and  work  righteousness 
come  forward  and  take  seats  in  front.”  Without 
a  moment’s  hesitation,  McLeod  stepped  to  the 
front  and  sat  down.  Elijah  shook  hands  with 
him  in  a  transport  of  exaltation  and  called  for 
more,  but  no  more  came.  McLeod  turned  and 
beckoned  to  the  Mizquets,  but  they  averted  their 
looks  from  him.  After  a  moment,  Elijah  felt 
that  he  had  shot  his  bolt  for  that  time  and,  in  a 
spasm  of  perplexity,  pronounced  the  benedic¬ 
tion. 

In  a  moment,  McLeod  was  back  among  the 
Mizquets.  The  crowd  around  Elijah  prevented 
him  from  getting  to  them  immediately.  He  saw, 
in  a  moment,  that  there  was  excitement  among 
them  and  shortly  made  his  way  to  McLeod’s  side. 
The  rancher  turned  on  the  minister,  and  asked : 


WHEN  ELIJAH  FAILED  123 

“Was  that  an  invitation  to  join  the  church 
that  you  made,  when  I  went  up  front?” 

“It  would  most  certainly  lead  to  joining  the 
church.  What  other  organization  do  you  know 
of  whose  object  is  to  root  out  sin  and  to  work 
righteousness?” 

“Well,  that  is  what  I  understood  you  to  mean, 
and  that  is  what  these  good  people  understood. 
But  it  seems  that  they  are  not  ready  to  join  the 
church  at  this  time.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mizquet  say 
that  the  financial  burden  of  a  church  will  be  too 
heavy  for  the  few  who  will  join.” 

This  blunt  statement  in  public  of  what  Mrs. 
Mizquet  had  intended  only  for  the  private  ear 
of  McLeod  annoyed  her.  She  stammered: 

“Brother  Green,  you  are  aware  that  if  we  form 
a  church  organization  at  this  place,  we  will 
pledge  ourselves  to  support  the  church  and  its 
institutions.  We  don’t  feel  able  to  do  anything 
much  along  such  lines.  We  have  rather  been  in 
hopes  that  you  would  defer  the  organization  of 
a  church  until  next  year.  Meantime,  we  would 
leave  our  membership  in  Illinois.  The  Home 
Missionary  Society  can  take  care  of  this  point  for 
at  least  another  year.”  McLeod  broke  in: 

“What  would  Fairb rook’s  share  in  your  sup¬ 
port  be,  Parson?” 

“That  would  be  fixed  at  the  First  Quarterly 
Conference.  Possibly  a  hundred  dollars.” 


124  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

“And  does  that  scare  you,  Mrs.  Mizquet?” 

“I  think  that  would  be  more  than  a  class  at  this 
point  would  raise,  this  year.” 

McLeod’s  glance  fell  upon  Dolly.  He  spoke 
very  gently: 

“And  how  do  you  feel  about  it,  Miss  Dolly?” 

“Nothing,  only  that  Mamma  knows  best.” 

“And  is  that  your  sentiment,  Mr.  Mizquet?” 

“Yes,  I  really  think  it  will  be  best  to  put  off 
the  organization  a  year.” 

“And  is  that  what  all  of  you  good  people 
think?”  asked  the  ranchman,  taking  in  the  rest 
of  the  family  with  his  glance.  They  all  bowed 
in  assent. 

“Well,  I  won’t  ask  any  of  these  folks  that 
don’t  know  anything  more  about  religion  and 
churches  than  I  do.  I  have  been  thinking  very 
strongly  of  a  church  at  Fairbrook  ever  since  last 
Sunday  afternoon.  This  dirty  little  hundred  dol¬ 
lars — thunder!  A  steer  would  pay  the  most  of 
it.  I  would  give  a  dozen  steers  to  see  a  church 
here  in  good  running  order.  With  these  eight 
Mizquet  folks  to  sorter  toll  us  along  on  the  right 
trail,  I  thought  we  had  the  identical  layout  for  a 
dandy  snap  along  religious  lines.  But  the  Miz- 
quets  have  laid  down  on  the  job,  so  I  guess  that 
ends  it.  Miss  Dolly,  will  you  please  return  me 
the  ring  which  I  gave  you,  and  which  is  on  the 


WHEN  ELIJAH  FAILED  125 

third  finger  of  your  left  hand*?”  She  raised  a 
startled  look  to  his  face  and  exclaimed: 

“You  can’t  mean  that,  Robert!” 

“Yes,  I  mean  that.  I  am  not  looking  for  a 
wife  in  a  family  with  not  enough  pep  to  stand 
up  for  a  little  thing  like  organizing  a  church.” 
She  took  the  ring  from  her  finger  and,  with  angry 
tears,  handed  it  to  him.  He  dropped  it  in  his 
vest  pocket  and  strode  from  the  room.  In  a 
moment,  his  horse’s  hoofs  were  heard  galloping 
up  the  road. 

Elijah  was  so  nonplussed  by  the  way  the 
affair  had  terminated,  that  he  could  only  say: 

“Well,  it  is  time  to  go  home.” 

The  next  morning,  Elijah  rode  out  to  the 
W.  D.  ranch  and  found  McLeod.  The  big 
ranchman  would  not  have  much  to  say.  Evi¬ 
dently,  he  was  badly  hurt.  These  words  escaped 
him: 

“Miss  Dolly  settled  my  hash,  Parson.  With 
her  loyal  to  the  church,  we  could  have  made  it, 
even  if  the  rest  of  them  had  gone  back  on  the 
proposition.” 

“It  seems  a  pity  that  they  did  not  know  that 
you  would  do  so  much  for  the  church  before  the 
matter  came  to  a  head  as  it  did.” 

“Yes,  I  can  see  that  it  would  have  made  a  big 
difference.” 


126  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

“Knowing  that,  I  believe  that  you  ought  to 
start  all  over  again.” 

“Now,  Parson,  how  can  you  change  the  nature 
of  such  people*?  The  contemptible  little  pile  of 
money  involved  is  what  scared  them.  If  they 
start  into  it  leaning  on  others,  where  will  they 
be  if  for  any  reason  others  should  fail  them  9” 

“Maybe  they  would  get  a  larger  vision  of  their 
privileges  and  responsibilities  and  go  on,  if  they 
were  thrown  on  their  own  resources.” 

“Maybe  so.  But  their  actions  last  night  made 
me  doubt  their  profession.  It  has  knocked  my 
pins  from  under  me,  and  I  shall  leave  the  whole 
thing  alone.” 

Elijah  stayed  with  McLeod  all  day,  but  accom¬ 
plished  nothing.  As  he  was  leaving  to  go  back  to 
Fairbrook  for  the  evening  service,  the  rancher 
said: 

“Parson,  I  sure  appreciate  all  that  you  have 
done  for  me.  Here  is  a  little  package  I  want  you 
not  to  open  until  Christmas  morning.  I  shall 
always  be  glad  to  see  you  at  the  ranch.”  Then 
very  wistfully:  “Maybe  you  will  remember  now 
and  then  to  speak  of  me  when  you  are  pray- 
ing.” 

On  Christmas  morning,  Elijah  opened  the  en¬ 
velope  and  found  a  hundred  dollar  greenback  in 
it.  But  McLeod  never  again  went  to  church. 


WHEN  ELIJAH  FAILED 


127 


The  meeting  on  that  Thursday  night  was  thinly 
attended  and  was  discontinued  on  Friday  eve¬ 
ning.  The  Mizquets  took  an  aversion  to  Elijah 
and  gave  him  much  trouble.  Luke  Grossett,  the 
oracle  of  Fairbrook,  said: 

“Now  it  wouldn’t  a  hurt  me  so  much  fer  folks 
to  funk  like  the  Mizquets  done,  but  thet  there 
Bob  McLeod  always  was  sech  a  queer  feller.  He 
acted  jest  like  somebody  had  been  a  cheatin’  at 
kyards.” 

It  was  several  years  before  a  church  was  or¬ 
ganized  at  Fairbrook,  and  not  a  McLeod  nor  a 
Mizquet  joined  it. 

Elijah  had  had  an  experience  something  like 
this  one  with  McLeod  while  he  had  been  on  the 
Mockville  Circuit. 

He  got  very  familiar  with  a  young  fellow  by 
the  name  of  Loup.  This  young  man  would  fre¬ 
quently  follow  the  preacher  to  his  afternoon  and 
evening  appointments.  Riding  horseback  from 
place  to  place,  they  had  many  long  intimate 
talks.  Andy  was  well  educated,  had  taught 
school,  and  had  recently  been  elected  justice  of 
the  peace  in  Mockville,  and  was  considered  one 
of  the  rising  young  men  of  the  county.  The 
more  abstruse  problems  of  theology  were  the 
topics  that  he  preferred  to  talk  on.  He  dodged 


128  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

practical  Christianity,  especially  experimental  re¬ 
ligion.  One  day,  after  a  vain  attempt  to  get  an 
experimental  note  from  Andy,  Elijah  bluntly 
asked : 

“Mr.  Loup,  why  don’t  you  join  the  church4?” 

“I  dislike  very  much  to  tell  you.” 

“You  seem  to  be  a  believer  in  Christianity; 
your  morals  are  blameless;  you  must  know  that 
you  could  be  a  power  for  righteousness  if  you 
were  affiliated  with  the  people  of  God;  your  posi¬ 
tion  outside  of  the  church  is  anomolous  and  more 
or  less  a  stone  of  stumbling  for  weaker  men  than 
you  are;  there  are  many  urgent  reasons  why  you 
should  throw  in  your  lot  with  us.” 

“Singular  to  relate,  I  have  used  every  one  of 
those  arguments  to  myself,  but  every  reason  for 
joining  the  church  is  overborne  by  just  one  rea¬ 
son  for  remaining  out.” 

“What  can  that  reason  be*?” 

“It  is  a  stubborn  disbelief  in  the  reality  of 
Christian  experience.” 

“How  did  you  ever  arrive  at  such  a  state4?” 

“First,  by  my  own  personal  failure  in  the  pur¬ 
suit  of  a  vital  Christian  experience;  and,  secondly, 
by  an  unworthy  display  of  pride  in  a  professor 
of  religion.” 

4 4 You  interest  me  very  much;  do  tell  me  the 
whole  story.” 


WHEN  ELIJAH  FAILED 


129 


Thus  solicited,  Andrew  Loup  fell  silent  for 
some  moments.  Evidently  he  was  carefully 
weighing  his  words. 

“I  would  like  for  you  to  know  that  I  fully  ap¬ 
preciate  my  own  individual  responsibility  to  God. 
I  am  not  trying  to  evade  that  responsibility  when 
I  tell  you  of  the  share  another  has  in  my  condi¬ 
tion.  Still,  I  insist  that  that  other  one  decided 
the  matter,  as  it  now  stands,  while  the  issue  was 
still  in  doubt.55 

“I  guess  you  are  thinking  now  of  my  uncom¬ 
promising  attitude  at  all  times  on  the  subject  of 
personal  responsibility.55 

“I  feel  that  I  was  pretty  well  .grounded  in  that 
doctrine  before  I  met  you;  so  much  so,  that  it 
seems  ungenerous  to  bring  any  one  else  into  the 
case.  If  I  die  unsaved,  the  Judge  will  doubtless 
make  up  His  decision  solely  upon  my  own  culpa¬ 
bility.55  Here  he  fell  silent  again,  until  Elijah 
exclaimed : 

“Come,  Andy;  I5m  listening.55 

“Well,  to  make  a  long  story  short,  I  am  a  very 
good  theoretical  Christian.  The  system  appeals 
strongly  to  my  reason  and  my  order  of  intelli¬ 
gence.  I  love  to  hear  Christian  doctrine  dis¬ 
cussed.55 

“I  certainly  believe  you  on  that  statement. 
Otherwise,  you  would  not  follow  me  up  to  hear 


130  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

the  same  subject  discussed  three  times  as  you  are 
doing  to-day.” 

“Yes;  I  think  that  I  could  make  a  pretty  good 
sermon  on  The  Dual  Nature  of  Jesus  Christ' 
myself  ?” 

“I  have  no  doubt  that  you  could  excel  mine. 
But  get  on  with  your  story.” 

“Now,  while  my  intellectual  assent  to  Chris¬ 
tianity  was  so  hearty,  my  spiritual  experience 
was  utterly  neutral.  I  wished  very  much  to  get 
a  satisfying,  personal,  Holy  Ghost  realization  of 
oneness  with  God.  Mr.  Green,  are  you  ac¬ 
quainted  with  Betty  March?” 

“I  have  been  at  her  father's  house  several 
times.” 

“What  is  your  opinion  of  her?” 

“I  heard  her  relate  her  experience  at  Brown’s 
Camp  Ground,  and  I  thought  it  was  a  powerful 
and  evangelical  testimony.” 

“Well,  I  was  quite  intimate  with  Betty  for 
several  months.  She  is  a  very  attractive  girl,  as 
you  know,  but  I  trust  that  you  will  understand 
me  when  I  say  that  I  kept  her  company  solely 
for  the  spiritual  benefit  that  I  might  derive  from 
association  with  her.  Like  yourself,  I  had  abso¬ 
lute  confidence  in  her  religion.  I  asked  for  noth¬ 
ing  better  than  an  experience  that  would  parallel 
hers. 

“About  three  years  ago,  Betty  and  I  attended 


WHEN  ELIJAH  FAILED 


131 


an  all-day  meeting  at  Brown’s  Camp  Ground.  A 
large  crowd  was  present,  and  there  was  a  big 
love-feast.  It  was  the  Sunday  morning  of  the 
Quarterly  Meeting,  and  people  from  the  entire 
circuit  were  there,  rejoicing  in  their  acceptance 
with  God.  Betty  got  very  happy.  And  I  was 
as  near  the  Kingdom  as  I  had  ever  been  before, 
as  I  watched  the  blessed  expression  on  her  face 
as  she  walked  the  aisles,  shouting,  praising  God, 
clapping  her  hands,  encouraging  believers  and  ex¬ 
horting  sinners.  But  I  did  not  get  the  evidence 
of  acceptance  with  God. 

“In  the  evening  I  drove  her  home.  I  remem¬ 
ber  that  I  was  collecting  my  thoughts  to  ask  her 
some  superlative  question  about  the  Christian 
life,  when  she  said: 

“  'Andy,  how  did  I  look  to-day,  when  I  was 
shouting  around  the  camp  ground?” 

Elijah  was  shocked  beyond  expression.  He 
was  looking  full  at  his  companion,  who  was  look¬ 
ing  straight  back  at  him  across  the  space  between 
their  horses.  After  a  moment  of  painful  silence, 
Loup  said: 

“I  see  that  her  question  affects  you  just  as  it 
affected  me.  I  hope  that  I  may  never  again  en¬ 
counter  such  a  terrific  anti-climax.  I  hope  that 
I  misjudged  her,  but  all  that  I  could  think  of 
was  the  hateful  reflection  that  she  was  an  arrant 
hypocrite.  Since  then,  I  have  tried  to  look  at  it 


132  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

in  the  light  of  spiritual  pride.  But  whatever  it 
may  have  been,  I  would  give  a  thousand  dollars 
if  she  had  not  spoken  the  words.” 

“What  was  your  reply  to  her?” 

“I  could  make  no  reply.  After  a  moment  of 
embarrassment,  I  stopped  the  horse,  and  pre¬ 
tended  to  fix  something  about  the  harness,  while 
I  changed  the  subject.  I  got  her  home,  somehow, 
and  have  never  seen  her  since.  She  lives  on  the 
other  end  of  the  circuit,  and  it  is  not  necessary 
for  us  to  meet.” 

“And  you  can’t  get  around  that  silly  question 
of  hers?” 

“No.  To  properly  understand  me,  you  must 
try  to  realize  the  confidence  I  had  in  her.  When 
I  was  looking  at  her,  I  was  thinking  of  the  rap¬ 
ture  of  her  soul — pure,  spiritual,  above  the  earth- 
clouds.  I  was  devoutly  wishing  that  my  soul, 
like  hers,  might  soar  away,  like  hers,  into  the 
empyrean  of  pure  ethereal  joys,  and  bask,  like 
hers,  in  supernal  light.  All  of  that  time,  she  was 
wondering  how  she  looked!  I  presume  that  a 
ballroom  belle  has  the  same  thoughts.  Oh,  Mr. 
Green,  it — it — it  is  just  heart-sickening.” 


VII:  TREMBLING  FOR  JESUS 


.  .  .  A  man  may  lose  his  sense  of  moral 
direction .  He  may  not  become  a  whit  less 
respectable  in  the  eyes  of  his  neighbors  than 
before ,  but  he  is  lost ,  like  a  sheep  in  the  wil¬ 
derness.  The  wolves  of  temptation  may 
not  have  devoured  him>  or  the  winds  of  hard 
circumstance  overcome  him — but  he  is  in 
peril  through  not  knowing  the  way. 

Bishop  McConnell. 


VII 


Trembling  for  Jesus 

The  Epworth  League  in  Greenford  was  trying 
out  an  Adventure  in  Evangelism.  The  Adven¬ 
ture  consisted  of  a  series  of  revival  meetings  in  a 
schoolhouse  five  miles  from  town.  The  method 
was  for  a  band  wagon  full  of  the  Epworthians  to 
go  to  the  schoolhouse  every  night  and  hold  a 
meeting. 

While  Elijah  had  suggested  this  program,  he 
did  not  undertake  to  control  it.  Of  course,  he 
was  ready  with  advice  when  needed.  He  was  a 
plain  member  of  the  local  chapter  and  took  his 
place  in  the  ranks,  performing  the  duties  required 
of  him.  He  was  expecting  a  strong  reflex  influ¬ 
ence  on  the  chapter. 

There  were  forty  members  who  could  do  this 
work.  It  was  agreed  at  the  outset  that  the  pas¬ 
tor,  president,  and  secretary  should  attend  every 
meeting.  This  left  nine  members  to  be  chosen 
from  the  body  of  the  chapter  each  night,  and  as 
the  secretary  chose  new  members  every  night,  the 
round  of  the  chapter  was  made  once  in  four  days. 

George  Mulvaney  was  the  most  spiritual  mem¬ 
ber  in  the  chapter,  but  he  was  so  excessively  dif- 

135 


136  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

fident  that  it  had  been  impossible  to  get  him  into 
that  part  of  the  work  down  to  Friday  night  of 
the  second  week,  on  which  day  he  came  into  the 
detail  for  the  third  time. 

As  the  Thursday  night  detail  was  returning 
home  after  a  very  encouraging  meeting,  Elijah 
and  Brewer,  the  President,  were  sitting  together 
in  a  corner  of  the  wagon,  quietly  discussing  the 
situation.  Brewer  said : 

“I  feel  as  though  we  have  reached  the  crisis  of 
the  meetings.  Much — very  much  depends  upon 
our  efforts  to-morrow  night.  I  would  say  that  I 
am  in  favor  of  selecting  only  the  best  workers 
for  to-morrow  night.  Miss  Hanson  says  that 
George  Mulvaney  falls  in  the  detail.  It  seems 
to  me  that  we  might  excuse  George  to-morrow 
night.” 

“That  is  your  affair,  Brother  Brewer,  but  I 
would  say,  in  a  general  way,  that  it  will  be  bad 
policy.  This  is  the  wrong  time  to  tamper  with 
established  methods.  If  some  preacher  were 
carrying  on  this  meeting,  and  if  he  understood 
the  psychology  of  revivals,  he  would  not  ask  a 
bishop  himself  to  preach  to-morrow  night,  so  im¬ 
portant  is  the  established  order  in  critical  periods 
of  a  meeting.  But  in  a  special  way,  it  would 
seem  to  me  particularly  wise  to  have  Mulvaney 
on  the  program  for  to-morrow  night.  Are  you 


TREMBLING  FOR  JESUS  137 

aware  of  the  great  influence  that  George  wields 
in  that  community 

“I  know  that  about  two-thirds  of  the  people 
attending  the  meetings  are  his  tenants.” 

“Yes,  and  every  tenant  is  under  many  obliga¬ 
tions  to  George.  He  put  down  one-half  of  the 
money  for  that  schoolhouse,  the  best  rural  school 
building  in  the  county.  Last  year,  when  typhoid 
swept  the  neighborhood,  he  hired  Dr.  Gabbert  at 
fifteen  dollars  a  day  to  stay  right  with  the  epi¬ 
demic.  That  ten  days’  intensive  work  of  Gab- 
bert’s  undoubtedly  saved  many  lives,  gave  the 
people  a  dozen  pointers  in  sanitation,  and  inci¬ 
dentally  gave  a  young  physician  exactly  the 
opportunity  he  needed  in  starting  a  practice. 
These,  and  many  other  acts  of  George  Mul- 
vaney’s  make  him  one  of  the  powerful  human 
agencies  in  this  revival.” 

“Very  well,  Brother  Green,  I  shall  take  your 
advice  and  let  the  detail  stand  as  it  is.” 

“See  George  to-morrow  and  suggest  that  he 
prepare  something  to  say  in  the  meeting.” 

“That’s  a  capital  suggestion,  and  I  believe  that 
I  will  pass  it  back  to  you  for  all  that  it  is 
worth.” 

“Thank  you;  I  had  already  determined  on 
taking  my  own  medicine.” 

The  next  morning  Brother  Green  happened  in 


138  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

at  Mulvaney’s  office.  After  a  few  common¬ 
places,  he  remarked  casually: 

“Had  a  mighty  good  meeting  last  night, 
George,  out  at  Mulvaney’s  Schoolhouse.” 

“Yes,  Brewer  was  in  here  a  moment  ago  and 
told  me  about  it.  He  tells  me  that  I  am  on  the 
detail  to-night  and  seems  especially  anxious  that 
I  should  speak.  I  have  avoided  speaking  in  pub¬ 
lic  so  far;  it  seems  that  more  voluble  folks  than 
I  am  should  do  the  talking.” 

“Now,  Brother  Mulvaney,  allow  me  to  remark 
that  volubility  is  not  the  principal  ingredient  of 
talk.  I  am  glad  that  Brother  Brewer  has  spoken 
to  you  about  it.  To  tell  you  the  truth,  George, 
I  am  building  big  hopes  on  your  speech  to-night.” 

“All  right,  ’Lijey,  I  shall  do  my  best.”  Then 
Mulvaney  fell  silent,  and  the  wise  pastor  took 
his  departure,  feeling  that  it  was  a  fine  time  to 
leave  the  man  alone. 

That  night,  after  the  wagon,  with  the  twelve 
Epworthians  aboard,  had  started,  the  president 
laid  off  the  work,  appointed  a  leader,  and  as¬ 
signed  each  person  on  the  detail  his  task  on  the 
program.  The  speeches  were  to  occupy,  nomi¬ 
nally,  five  minutes.  Allowing  for  the  usual  num¬ 
ber  of  shorter  speeches,  it  was  believed  that  this 
part  of  the  program  would  consume  between 
thirty  and  thirty-five  minutes.  George  was  the 


TREMBLING  FOR  JESUS  139 

eleventh  one  on  the  list,  the  president  coming 
last.  He  said,  with  a  sort  of  choke : 

£‘I  shall  try  to  do  whatever  He  would  have 
me  do.” 

The  house  was  packed.  Every  Epworthian 
seemed  alive  to  the  situation.  The  speeches  came 
in  quick  succession  and  rapidly  worked  the  thor¬ 
oughly  mellow  congregation  into  a  receptive 
state.  Mulvaney’s  time  came.  The  pastor,  presi¬ 
dent,  and  leader  all  glanced  encouragingly  toward 
him.  He  seemed  ready  to  run,  and  only  by  a 
mighty  effort  did  he  arise.  His  jaw  worked  con¬ 
vulsively  twice,  and  then,  brokenly,  in  a  solemn 
stillness,  he  said: 

££My  friends,  I  would  like  to  tell  you  how 
much  Jesus  has  done  for  me,  but  somehow  my 
mouth  won’t  go  off.  But  if  I  can’t  say  anything 
for  Jesus,  I  can  at  least  stand  here  and  tremble 
for  him.” 

He  was  actually  trembling,  so  his  words  were 
not  at  all  theatrical.  Their  effect  was  electrical. 
A  mighty  tremor  passed  through  the  audience. 
Strong  men  sobbed;  women  cried  aloud;  Brewer 
afterwards  said  that  the  appearance  of  things  re¬ 
sembled  nothing  more  than  a  coming  storm. 
Mulvaney  seemed  to  have  prepared  a  speech,  of 
which,  apparently,  he  could  not  remember  a 
word.  He  stood  quite  still  for  a  moment  trem- 


140  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

bling  in  every  liber,  while  the  excitement  con¬ 
stantly  increased. 

When  he  sat  down,  the  Holy  Ghost  filled  all 
the  house  as  with  a  mighty,  rushing  wind.  More 
than  a  score  were  eagerly  asking: 

“What  shall  I  do  to  be  saved?” 

The  president’s  speech  came  next,  but  he  tact¬ 
fully  turned  it  into  an  inquiry  meeting,  and  the 
Greenford  Chapter  had  all  it  could  do  for  the 
next  two  hours,  passing  from  one  to  another, 
pointing  them  to  Christ.  At  this  work,  George 
Mulvaney  made  a  full  hand.  Before  the  meeting 
closed,  he  rejoiced  many  times  that  he  had  stood 
up  and  trembled  for  Jesus. 

Elijah  said  that  among  the  many  incidental, 
reflex  effects  of  that  Adventure  in  Evangelism 
was  the  unstopping  of  George  Mulvaney’s  mouth. 
He  was  never  again  at  a  loss  what  to  say  at  a 
League  meeting. 

WAITING  AND  WATCHING 

In  another  meeting  Elijah  had  been  kind  to  a 
little  motherless  girl  of  ten  who  constantly  at¬ 
tended  alone.  One  evening  he  asked  her  why  her 
father  did  not  attend.  She  burst  into  tears  and 
said: 

“Brother  Green,  please  pray  for  my  father.” 

As  that  was  all  she  could  say,  Elijah  took  the 


TREMBLING  FOR  JESUS 


141 


matter  quite  seriously  and  prayed  frequently  the 
next  day  for  “the  father  of  the  little  girl  who 
is  so  distressed  about  him.”  That  night,  when 
the  child  came  and  took  her  accustomed  seat 
about  the  middle  of  the  auditorium,  a  man  ac¬ 
companied  her. 

Elijah  could  sing  a  little,  and  that  night  he 
sang  the  solo,  “Waiting  and  Watching.”  He 
could  see  that  the  father  was  greatly  affected, 
and  intended  to  speak  to  him  at  the  close  of  the 
service,  but  was  hindered  by  the  crowd  that 
pressed  up  to  the  chancel  when  the  benediction 
was  pronounced.  When  he  found  himself  at  lib¬ 
erty,  the  man  was  gone  and  the  child  with  him. 
He  could  only  pray  that  some  seed  might  have 
fallen  in  good  ground. 

The  next  evening,  the  couple  were  in  their 
places.  Personal  testimonies  were  always  a  part 
of  the  meetings,  and  a  half  hour  was  occupied 
on  that  evening  with  an  experience  meeting.  The 
third  one  to  arise  was  the  father  of  this  mother¬ 
less  child.  He  said: 

“Most  of  you  know  me  for  a  non-attendant  at 
church  services  for  the  past  two  years.  Since 
my  wife  died,  I  have  had  to  follow  my  trade  of 
shoemaking  and  keep  house  at  the  same  time. 
But  of  course  every  one  has  time  for  divine 
service — if  he  only  thinks  so.  My  real  reason 
for  staying  away  was  that  I  felt  hard  and  bitter 


142  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

against  God  for  taking  away  my  wife.  Little 
Minnie,  here,  has  been  attending  these  revival 
services  all  the  time  and  has  been  after  me  every 
night  to  come  with  her.  But  I  always  packed 
her  off  alone  and  stayed  in  my  shop,  working 
and  brooding  over  the  loss  of  my  wife  and  my 
little  daughter  Lucy. 

“All  day  yesterday,  Minnie  was  begging  me 
on  every  occasion  to  go  to  the  meeting  at  night. 
And  there  was  some  influence  besides  Minnie  at 
work,  for  I  felt  drawn  this  way.  My  thoughts 
had  become  very  rebellious  in  the  two  years  since 
my  wife  left  me,  and  I  had  grown  hard  and 
wicked.  But  toward  evening,  yesterday,  I  prom¬ 
ised  Minnie  that  I  would  come,  and  I  was  here 
last  night.  But  my  heart  was  steeled  against 
divine  influences. 

“Everything  went  in  at  one  ear  and  out  at  the 
other,  until  the  preacher  sang,  ‘Waiting  and 
Watching/  just  after  the  experience  and  prayer 
meeting.  It  was  the  first  time  I  ever  heard  it, 
and  the  first  two  verses  passed  by  without  touch¬ 
ing  my  hard  heart.  Then  he  sang: 

“  ‘There  are  little  ones  glancing  about  in  my  path, 

In  want  of  a  friend  and  a  guide.’ 

“Ah!  That  struck  me  like  a  blow  in  the  face. 
Here  is  my  little  Minnie,  needing  my  daily  Chris¬ 
tian  walk;  my  hand  to  guide  her  away  from  the 


TREMBLING  FOR  JESUS 


143 


traps  and  pitfalls  of  life;  and  I  was  moping  away 
my  time,  complaining  against  God,  who  doeth  all 
things  well,  for  taking  from  me  my  wife,  to  be 
an  angel  in  heaven,  when  all  the  time,  I  had  this 
sweet  child  left  me,  to  cheer  and  comfort  me,  and 
for  me  to  guide  aright.  But  the  preacher  sang 
further : 

“  ‘There  are  dear  little  eyes  looking  up  into  mine, 
Whose  tears  might  be  easily  dried/ 

“I  had  so  easily  dried  Minnie’s  tears,  yesterday, 
by  merely  promising  to  come  to  meeting.  Why 
shouldn’t  I  go  right  on,  comforting  her  and  dry¬ 
ing  her  tears4?  I  began  to  make  promises  to  ease 
the  heart  stabs  of  that  song,  but  the  singer  kept 
right  on: 

“  ‘But  Jesus  may  beckon  the  children  away 
In  the  midst  of  their  grief  and  their  glee/ 

“That  broke  my  heart.  I  cried,  but  my  tears 
were  not  altogether  bitter,  as  so  many  of  my  tears 
have  lately  been.  They  were  penitent  tears.  I 
had  sinned  against  my  God  so  grievously.  I 
prayed  back  here  in  my  seat  for  forgiveness,  but 
the  distracting  sights  and  sounds  in  the  church 
prevented  me  from  centering  my  thoughts,  so  I 
was  not  relieved.  Then  I  went  home,  and  there, 
in  my  own  room,  kneeling  beside  my  bed,  peace 


144  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

came.  So  I  have  been  happy  all  day  and  am 
here  to-night,  with  my  own  tears  and  my  little 
Minnie’s  tears  dried.  I  am  happy  in  the  thought 
that  there  will  be  those  I  love  at  the  beautiful 
gate,  waiting  and  watching  for  me.” 

This  man  was  one  of  the  very  few  whom  Elijah 
overlooked  in  his  pastoral  visits.  But  he  had 
been  only  a  short  time  in  Frankton  when  this 
occurred.  The  unobtrusive,  retiring  ways  of  the 
shoemaker  had  been  accentuated  by  his  great 
loss,  and,  brooding  over  his  widowed  condition 
alone,  had  nearly  cost  him  his  birthright.  Little 
Minnie’s  despairing  cry,  “Pray  for  my  father,” 
started  the  chain  of  Christian  influence  which 
enveloped  and  saved  her  father  for  God.  It  is 
obvious  that  Elijah’s  prayers  acted  in  the  divine 
ether  of  the  meeting,  so  as  to  draw  Minnie’s 
father  to  the  church. 

DISOBEYING  HIS  MOTHER  IN  THE  LORD 

At  Frankton,  Elijah  had  another  singular  ex¬ 
perience  with  a  child. 

Mrs.  Walker,  the  Recording  Steward,  came  to 
him  and  made  the  strange  request  that  he  would 
not  talk  to  her  boy  on  religious  matters.  He 
replied : 

“Of  course  I  shall  respect  your  parental  rights 
in  this  thing,  Sister  Walker,  but  I  am  at  a  loss 


TREMBLING  FOR  JESUS  145 

to  understand  why  you  should  make  such  a  re¬ 
quest.” 

“Well,  David  is  a  very  good  boy  and  has 
strong  religious  inclinations.  He  now  has  his 
education  on  his  hands,  and  if  he  gets  an  undue 
bias  toward  study  on  religious  subjects,  he  will 
not  make  the  progress  in  literary  lines  which  it 
is  important  for  him  to  make  at  this  period  of 
his  life.” 

“In  what  grade  is  he  now  studying4?” 

“He  is  working  in  the  Sixth  at  school,  but  is 
preparing  the  Seventh  at  home.” 

“And  how  old  is  he4?” 

“He  is  just  past  twelve.” 

4 ‘Then  he  must  have  doubled  one  year  before 
this.” 

“He  entered  school  in  the  Second  Grade  at  the 
age  of  seven.  You  see,  Brother  Green,  I  am 
anxious  that  he  should  enter  High  School  next 
September  a  year.  Besides  the  two  grades  he  will 
make  this  year,  he  is  carrying  piano  and  pastel 
work  out  of  school  hours.” 

“Well!  If  all  of  these  studies  are  essential  at 
his  age,  it  would  seem  unwise  to  crowd  religious 
training  on  him.” 

“Now,  Brother  Green,  don’t  get  sarcastic* 
David  will  have  plenty  of  time,  after  he  makes 
the  High  School,  to  study  on  religion.” 

“Well,  Sister,  as  I  said  before,  I  recognize  your 


146  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

parental  authority  over  David.  I  shall  not  talk 
to  him  on  religious  topics,  only  when  he  forces 
me  to  do  so  by  asking  me  questions.  We  are 
often  together.  His  conversation  is  constantly 
reverting  to  theological  and  religious  themes,  so 
you  have  set  me  a  difficult  task.” 

That  very  afternoon,  young  Walker  called  at 
the  parsonage  on  his  way  from  school  and 
strolled  at  once  into  the  library.  It  was  in 
January  of  1915,  when  the  war  was  raging  on 
so  many  fronts.  He  seemed  perfectly  informed 
on  the  war  news,  and,  after  talking  it  for  a 
while,  he  remarked,  quite  casually: 

“Mr.  Green,  in  your  sermon  last  night,  you 
spoke  of  the  time  you  were  born  again.  I  wish 
that  you  would  explain  just  what  you  mean  by 
that.” 

Elijah  turned  to  the  third  chapter  of  John 
and  read  it  very  carefully,  commenting  as  he 
went.  The  boy  seemed  to  be  listening  only  casu¬ 
ally,  but  his  mind  received  instruction  with  such 
ease  that  it  was  not  necessary  for  him  to  pay 
the  strict  attention  which  some  people  must  give, 
in  order  to  understand  a  subject.  At  the  close  of 
the  chapter,  he  remarked: 

“It  is  very  clear,  isn’t  it?” 

“I  am  glad  to  hear  you  say  so,  David.  A  great 
many  people  make  a  difficulty  of  it.” 

“Yes,  Nicodemus  seemed  to  have  trouble  with 


TREMBLING  FOR  JESUS  147 

it.  But  it  is  not  hard  for  me  to  see  that  there 
may  be  a  soul  birth  as  well  as  a  body  birth. 
There  are  many  different  kinds  of  body  birth, 
even.  The  birth  of  a  mammal  is  different  from 
that  of  a  fowl  or  a  reptile.  Then  see  the  dragon 
fly,  the  butterfly,  the  mosquito.  A  plant  has  a 
birth,  too.  We  can  see  them  born  in  the  culture 
jars  in  the  school  windows.  The  soul  birth  is 
only  a  little  more  hard  to  understand,  so,  just  as 
you  say,  we  have  to  take  God’s  Word  for  it.  Mr. 
Green,  do  you  think  that  I  am  too  young  to  be 
born  again?”  Now  wasn’t  that  a  tight  corner  he 
had  crowded  poor  Elijah  into?  He  could  only 
answer : 

“Certainly  not,  David;  I  have  frequently  seen 
younger  people  than  you  converted.” 

“Well,  then,  it  seems  that  I  ought  to  attend 
to  the  matter  and  get  it  off  my  mind.” 

“It  does  look  like  that  would  be  the  part  of 
wisdom,  David.  But  do  you  think,  in  view  of 
the  large  number  of  studies  you  are  now  pursu¬ 
ing,  that  it  will  be  wise  to  bother  yourself  with 
religion?” 

“Why,  that  is  precisely  the  way  that  Mamma 
talks !  But  it  looks  to  me  that  if  it  were  off  my 
mind,  and  I  were  perfectly  satisfied  about  it,  I 
would  then  be  able  to  go  on  with  my  other 
studies  to  better  advantage.” 

“Well,  now,  to  tell  you  the  exact  fact,  David, 


148  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

your  mother  does  not  want  you  to  be  troubling 
yourself  with  these  matters.  You  know  that 
Paul  says,  ‘Children,  obey  your  parents.’  ” 

“Yes,  Mamma  quoted  that  to  me  the  other  day. 
I  found  the  passage  with  the  Concordance,  the 
way  you  taught  me.  Neither  you  nor  Mamma 
quoted  all  of  the  passage.  It  reads,  ‘Children, 
obey  your  parents  in  the  Lord'  I  believe  that 
that  Scripture  means  that  we  must  obey  our 
parents  so  long  as  it  is  not  contrary  to  the  will 
of  God;  but  it  is  the  will  of  God  that  I  should 
be  saved.  I  ought  to  obey  God  rather  than  man.” 

That  was  one  of  the  times  that  Elijah  had 
nothing  to  say,  and  he  said  it.  David  continued: 

“I  guess  you  and  Mamma  aren’t  trying  to 
defeat  me  in  this  thing?” 

“God  bless  you,  child,  a  thousand  times,  no.” 

“All  right.”  Then  he  lowered  his  voice.  “I 
shall  ask  God  to  convert  me  to-night,  when  I 
kneel  for  my  evening  prayer  at  nine  o’clock.  I 
wish  )T)u  would  be  at  prayer  at  the  same  time. 
God  might  refuse  me,  but  he  can’t  refuse  you.  I 
believe  you  are  not  in  the  habit  of  being  refused.” 

That  choked  Elijah  all  up.  He  made  the 
promise,  and  for  some  time  before  nine  o’clock 
he  was  on  his  knees  in  the  library.  The  Enfold¬ 
ing,  Filling  Presence  was  with  him  in  great  sweet¬ 
ness.  He  felt  as  sure  that  David  Walker  was 
passing  into  the  Kingdom  as  he  felt  that  he  was 


TREMBLING  FOR  JESUS 


149 


on  his  knees.  He  went  into  the  library  next 
morning,  when  the  first  school  bell  rang,  and  soon 
David  came  along.  He  dodged  in  and  whis¬ 
pered  : 

“It  was  just  like  we  expected  it  would  be. 
Thank  you  for  helping  me.”  Then  he  was  gone. 
The  naivete  of  it  was  like  sweet  music  and  fra¬ 
grant  incense  all  day  to  Elijah.  That  afternoon, 
David  came  by  on  his  way  home  and  said : 

“Oh,  Brother  Green,  I  had  good  lessons  to¬ 
day.” 

“Why,  David,  I  understand  that  you  always 
have  good  lessons.”  He  blushed  and  responded: 
“Others  may  say  that,  but  I  know  that  I  am 
fresher  some  days  than  others.  And  to-day  I  was 
fresher  than  ever.  I  could  study  so  easily.  Say,” 
lowering  his  voice,  “will  you  please  go  into  the 
church  with  me  for  a  while  T’  The  minister  won- 
deringly  followed  the  child  into  the  church. 
They  sat  on  the  back  seat. 

“Brother  Green,  you  must  pray  for  me  so  that 
I  shall  go  aright  in  what  I  am  going  to  say.  I 
am  in  a  hurry  to  get  home,  so  you  won’t  have 
much  time.”  They  knelt  and  Elijah  very  feel¬ 
ingly  asked  the  Holy  Spirit  to  direct  David’s 
words.  Then  the  boy  said: 

“Brother  Green,  I  must  join  the  church,  next 
Sunday.” 

“David,  will  your  mother  approved” 


150  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

“We  must  convince  her  that  it  is  the  thing 
to  do.” 

“Very  well;  you  mention  it  to  her  to-night;  I 
shall  call  on  her  and  talk  it  over  to-morrow.” 

But  when  Elijah  called,  Mrs.  Walker  immedi¬ 
ately  broached  the  subject,  by  saying: 

“Oh,  Brother  Green,  I  know  what  you  have 
come  for.  David  told  me  that  you  would  be  here 
to  talk  about  his  joining  the  church  next  Sunday, 
but  you  will  not  have  to  argue  the  point.  He 
swept  away  all  of  my  objections.  Oh,  you  can’t 
fancy  how  I  feel  so  small  and  so  magnified,  both 
at  once.  I  feel  so  little  when  I  think  of  my  fussy 
interference  with  the  will  of  God,  and  so  great, 
when  I  consider  how  He  has  honored  me  by  giv¬ 
ing  me  such  a  son.” 

“Sister  Walker,  I  want  to  tell  you,  to  begin 
with,  that  I  did  not  go  contrary  to  your  wishes 
in  the  matter.  David  pushed  the  question  on  me 
every  time.” 

“Yes,  he  explained  that  to  me.  But  it  has 
come  out  all  right.  How  singularly  blind  and 
stupid  I  was.  But  God  has  forgiven  me.  I  see 
that  he  has  first  of  all  given  me  my  child  to  train 
for  Him.  Hereafter,  all  ether  training  can 
afford  to  wait.” 

“And  it  will  be  all  right  for  David  to  join  the 
church  next  Sunday4?” 


TREMBLING  FOR  JESUS 


151 


“Indeed,  yes.  I  am  now  only  too  anxious  for 
him  to  be  in  the  church.  And  next  Sunday  of 
all  others,  because  it  is  Communion,  and  I  shall 
commune  with  him.” 


VIII:  THE  FUNERAL  OF  A  FIDDLE 


A  gospel  for  men ,  wicked ,  weary ,  heavily 
laden  with  their  cares  of  mind ,  body ,  hearty 
memory — 772^/2  divine  instincts ,  however 

untended ;  men  I  have  found  that  the  appeal 
to  life ,  /Ae  appeal  to  the  mightier  impulses 
— conscience ,  character ,  eternity , 

bution ,  /<?£/£,  Christ — touched  one  as  another . 

Bishop  Quayle. 


VIII 


The  Funeral  of  a  Fiddle 

After  the  fiasco  at  Fairbrook,  Elijah  went  to 
Otter  Creek,  about  fifty  miles  from  Fairbrook, 
and  entirely  out  of  its  range.  Here  he  put  on 
a  series  of  revival  meetings,  like  many  others  in 
a  new  country,  with  no  one  to  help  him  who  had 
ever  professed  religion. 

His  direct  appeal  arrested  attention,  and  on 
Wednesday  night  the  animals  began  uneasily  to 
stir.  This  was  again  the  fifth  sermon,  and  the 
general  theme  was  Sin.  Two  young  men  by  the 
name  of  Baker  would  go  out  of  doors,  then  return 
and  noisily  seat  themselves  on  the  front  seats, 
chew  tobacco,  and  spit  vigorously  under  the 
teacher’s  desk,  which  Elijah  was  using  as  a  pul¬ 
pit.  After  they  had  returned  the  third  time,  the 
minister  paused  and,  looking  them  squarely  in  the 
face,  said: 

“X  have  always  been  afraid  to  reprove  persons 
in  my  audience  who  misbehave  themselves,  be¬ 
cause  I  might  make  the  mistake  an  old  minister 
once  made.  In  one  of  his  audiences,  a  young 

man  was  misbehaving  considerably,  and  the  m in- 

155 


156  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

ister  turned  to  and  gave  him  a  good  going-over, 
when  the  father  of  the  boy  arose  and  said : 

“  Tarson,  that  boy  is  an  idiot ;  it  doesn’t  do 
no  good  to  scold  him.  I’ll  jest  take  him  home.5 

“Ever  since  I  heard  that  story,  I  have  been 
careful  about  reprimanding  for  misbehavior.  I 
wouldn’t  like  to  tear  in  and  scold  an  idiot.” 

At  this,  the  Bakers  arose  and  again  left  the 
house  very  noisily,  and  on  the  outside  they  talked 
loudly  and  profanely  until  the  service  closed, 
when  they  returned.  Elijah  went  up  to  Frank 
Baker  and,  laying  his  hand  on  his  arm,  said: 

“My  friend,  are  you  aware  that  you  have  made 
yourself  liable  to  the  grand  jury*?” 

“You  take  your  hand  off  of  me,  or  I’ll  mash 
your  mouth  all  over  your  face.” 

Just  then  two  husky  fellows,  Jim  Rowe  and 
Joe  Vincent,  came  up,  one  on  each  side  of  Elijah. 
Jim  said: 

“Stand  your  ground,  Parson;  we  will  see  that 
you  have  fair  play.  Now  Frank,  you  draw  in 
your  horns.  The  decent  people  of  this  country 
won’t  stand  for  your  nonsense.” 

The  father  of  the  boys  here  interposed: 

“Nor  I  won’t  stand  for  it  neither.  Frank,  you 
and  Bill  have  to  behave  yourselves.” 

The  young  fellows  sullenly  left  the  house. 
After  about  a  half-hour’s  social  chat,  the  crowd 


THE  FUNERAL  OF  A  FIDDLE  157 

broke  up.  Elijah  went  to  old  man  Baker  and 
said : 

“Brother  Baker,  I  want  to  go  home  with  you. 
You  have  invited  me  several  times,  but  I  always 
had  some  other  engagement  ahead  of  you.” 

“Sure,  Parson;  always  welcome.  But  I  sup¬ 
posed  you  would  be  put  out  by  my  boys,  so  I 
didn’t  ask  you  this  evenin’.  Jest  git  on  your 
hoss  an’  follow  my  sleigh.” 

It  was  bright  moonlight,  and  the  sleighing  was 
good,  so  that  Elijah  had  to  spur  a  little  to  keep 
up.  When  they  reached  the  gate  to  Baker’s  pas¬ 
ture,  the  two  boys  got  down  to  open  it.  After 
Elijah  had  ridden  through,  he  dismounted.  Baker 
whipped  up  and  left  them  together,  as  home  wTas 
not  far  off,  and  the  boys  could  walk  the  rest  of 
the  way.  The  minister  said: 

“Boys,  I  believe  that  this  would  be  a  good 
place  to  settle  our  differences.”  Bill  replied: 

“You  mean  to  say  you  want  to  fight  us  both?” 

“I  don’t  want  to  fight  either  one  of  you.  I 
want  to  talk  our  difficulty  over  and  come  to  an 
understanding  to  get  along  together.” 

“We  don’t  like  to  be  called  idiots.” 

“I  didn’t  call  you  idiots;  try  to  remember  what 
I  said.” 

“Say,  Parson,  you  knowed  we  wasn’t  idiots.” 

“I  couldn’t  know  it  from  the  way  you  acted.” 


158  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

“Did  we  act  like  idiots?” 

“You  certainly  didn’t  act  like  sensible  men. 
It  seems  to  me  that  any  one  "with  common  sense 
would  not  disturb  a  public  meeting.” 

“What  did  our  actions  have  to  do  with  our 
sense?” 

“Well,  you  were  laying  yourselves  liable  to 
prosecution.  The  laws  are  against  you,  and  it 
seems  to  me  that  no  sensible  man  will  go  con¬ 
trary  to  law,  in  the  presence  of  so  many  wit¬ 
nesses.” 

“Do  you  intend  to  prosecute  us?” 

“Not  if  I  can  help  it.  That  is  what  I  stopped 
back  here  for.  I  like  to  get  along  with  everybody 
that  comes  to  my  meetings.  But  I  have  my 
rights  before  the  law,  and  if  soft,  easy  measures 
fail,  believe  me,  I  shall  not  hesitate  to  use  harsh 
ones.” 

“Well  now,  Parson,  what  do  you  want  out  of 
us  to-night?” 

“I  just  want  an  assurance  that  you  will  not 
disturb  my  meetings  any  more.” 

“Oh,  we  can  stay  away  from  your  old  meet¬ 
ings.” 

“If  it  is  impossible  for  you  to  behave  your¬ 
selves  at  meeting,  it  will  be  a  good  thing  for  you 
to  stay  at  home.  Come  now,  you  know  that  you 
can  behave  yourselves  at  meeting  as  well  as  any¬ 
body.  I  don’t  want  to  do  you  any  harm.  Come 


THE  FUNERAL  OF  A  FIDDLE  159 

along;  behave  yourselves;  get  your  share  of  good 
out  of  the  meeting.” 

“Much  good  we  are  going  to  get  out  of  it. 
You  are  breaking  up  all  of  the  fun  we  have  been 
having.” 

“What  fun  have  I  broken  up?” 

“There  was  going  to  be  a  dance  at  Tom  Arm¬ 
strong’s  house  to-night,  but  it  was  called  in  on 
account  of  the  meeting.  And  Tom  and  his  wife 
and  his  sister-in-law  are  all  beginning  to  talk 
serious.  And  Tom,  the  only  fiddler  in  the  coun¬ 
try,  and  his  wife  and  her  sister  two  of  the  best 
dancers.” 

“Now,  Bill,  if  those  folks  can  see  the  harm  in 
the  dance,  it  surely  is  no  good.  I  understand 
that  there  is  always  whisky  at  the  dances,  here 
in  this  country.” 

“  ’Course  we  have  to  have  a  little  sumpin  to 
drink.” 

“And  I  understand  that  a  dance  frequently 
winds  up  with  a  fight.” 

“Oh,  yes,  somebody  always  gits  a  little  gay, 
and  he  has  to.be  took  down.” 

“Now,  boys,  I  want  to  ask  you,  are  such  things 
doing  your  country  any  good?” 

“Maybe  not.” 

“Have  you  ever  been  present  at  a  dance  when 
there  was  trouble?” 

“Chris  Wolfe  was  shot  at  one  about  a  year 


160  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

ago.  Clem  Wilson  was  stabbed  at  one  last 
spring.” 

“If  such  things  happen  at  dances,  it  seems  to 
me  that  I  am  doing  a  good  thing  in  breaking 
them  up.”  Bill  had  been  carrying  on  the  conver¬ 
sation,  but  Frank  now  spoke: 

“Fur  as  I’m  concerned,  I  can  behave  myself, 
and  I  am  willing  to  promise.” 

“Oh,  yes,  I  can  promise  too,”  said  Bill. 

“All  right,  boys,  let’s  shake  hands  on  it.” 

“All  the  same,  that  idiot  business  sticks  in  my 
craw,”  said  Bill,  lugubriously. 

“Well,  since  you  fellows  have  come  across  like 
gentlemen,  I  want  to  apologize  for  saying  that. 
I  ought  not  to  have  said  it,  and  I  am  sorry  for 
it.  If  you  will  pardon  me  for  it,  I  shall  be  more 
careful  in  the  future.”  Here  both  of  those  big 
fellows  broke  down  and  blubbered.  Elijah  was 
walking  and  leading  his  horse.  He  held  out  his 
hand: 

“Is  it  a  go,  boys?  Do  you  forgive  me?” 

They  paused  in  the  moonlight,  and  each  seized 
a  hand.  Elijah  continued: 

“I  believe  that  it  will  be  a  good  thing  for  me 
to  apologize  in  public  to-morrow  night,  for  the 
rot  about  the  idiot;  what  do  you  say?”  Frank 
replied : 

“Not  till  after  we  apologize  for  our  meanness.” 

“Good  enough!  We  have  all  been  in  the 


THE  FUNERAL  OF  A  FIDDLE  161 

wrong;  you  make  your  apology,  and  then  I  will 
make  mine.5’ 

“  ’Nough  said.” 

They  had  now  arrived  at  the  stable.  Mr. 
Baker  had  put  up  his  horses,  and  he  and  the  rest 
of  the  family  had  gone  into  the  house.  He  was 
surprised  when  the  three  entered  the  house  on  the 
friendliest  of  terms.  The  basis  of  their  “rnake- 
it-up”  was  not  mentioned.  A  pleasant  evening 
was  spent.  After  prayers,  Mr.  Baker  remarked: 

“This  is  better  than  for  you  young  folks  to 
be  off  to  a  dance  to-night,  with  me  a  worryin’  if 
you  would  all  get  home  sound  and  well.” 

The  next  evening,  when  the  time  came  for 
Elijah  to  preach,  he  said: 

“Frank  and  William  Baker  wish  to  make  a 
statement,  and  I  shall  now  give  them  the  oppor¬ 
tunity.” 

Frank  first  spoke: 

“I  am  very  sorry  for  the  way  I  acted  here  at 
the  meetin’  last  night.”  It  was  now  Bill’s  turn : 

“So  am  I  sorry.  The  Parson  says  that  he  is 
going  to  apologize  for  what  he  said  about  idiots. 
But  the  more  I  think  about  it,  the  less  I  want  him 
to  apologize.  He  really  didn’t  call  us  idiots,  but 
we  were  idiots  all  the  same.  So  I  don’t  want  him 
to  beg  pardon  at  all.  Fact  is,  me  an’  Frank  got 
jest  what  was  a  cornin’  to  us.  Parson  Green  is 
a  mighty  straight,  nice  man.  An’  I  put  you  all 


162  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

wise  to  this:  Don’t  try  no  shenanigan  with  him, 
for  me  an’  Frank  an’  Jim  Rowe  an’  Joe  Vincent 
won’t  stand  for  it.” 

These  speeches  produced  a  most  favorable  im¬ 
pression.  But,  Elijah  made  his  apology.  Then 
he  preached  with  great  power  and  liberty  on  Re¬ 
pentance.  At  the  close  of  the  sermon,  he  asked 
for  penitents  to  come  to  the  altar.  Frank  and 
Bill  Baker  knelt,  and  many  others  with  them. 
The  minister  gave  a  general  exhortation  for  all 
of  them  to  confess  their  sins  and  ask  for  pardon. 

“I  can’t  get  around  to  all  of  you  before  some 
of  you  will  be  converted.  After  you  feel  that 
God  has  pardoned  you,  it  will  be  all  right  for 
you  to  rise  and  sit  on  the  altar,  if  you  so  desire.” 

Instantly  there  was  a  murmur  of  prayer  going 
up.  Elijah  started  in  at  one  end  of  the  bench  to 
direct  the  minds  of  the  seekers.  He  heard  a  com¬ 
motion  at  the  other  end,  and  looking  up  saw 
Frank  Baker  sitting  on  the  bench  and  leaning  over 
Bill.  Then  he  went  on  talking  to  the  seeker  with 
whom  he  was  kneeling.  Soon  this  man  was 
happy.  Just  then  Bill  Baker  was  powerfully 
saved.  Elijah  went  to  their  end  of  the  bench, 
and  sat  down  between  them.  He  put  an  arm 
over  the  shoulders  of  each.  To  Frank  he  whis¬ 
pered  : 

“Frank,  do  you  love  Jesus?” 


THE  FUNERAL  OF  A  FIDDLE  163 

“You  bet  I  do/5  was  the  naive  reply.  Then 
catching  himself,  he  continued:  “I  guess  you 
don’t  bet,  Parson  Green — I  mean  Brother  Green. 
I  said  £you  bet’  before  I  thought.  I  jest  meant 
to  put  it  as  strong  as  I  know  how,  that  I  love 
Jesus.” 

“That’s  all  right,  Frank;  I  understood  you; 
and  consider  that  you  expressed  yourself  good 
and  strong.”  Then  turning  to  Bill,  he  asked: 

“Bill,  old  man,  how  are  you  feeling*?” 

“Jest  bully!”  Bill  exploded.  “Oh,  that  isn’t 
what  I  wanted  to  say,  Parson — Brother  Green,  I 
mean;  I  wanted  to  say,  I  feel  so  nice  and  light.” 

“Well,  Bill,  you  and  Frank  and  I  must  tie  in 
and  help  these  other  folks  out  of  the  place  they 
are  in.  Cinch  up,  take  a  snug  turn  around  the 
pommel  with  your  lariat,  and  then  throw  the  rope 
to  the  fellow  that  needs  it.” 

In  a  moment,  each  of  the  three  was  kneeling 
by  a  seeker.  Many  were  the  professions.  There 
is  no  human  instrumentality  quite  so  compelling 
as  the  words  of  a  newborn  soul. 

Elijah  went  home  that  night  with  Tom  Arm¬ 
strong,  the  fiddler.  Tom  lived  some  distance 
from  the  schoolhouse,  up  in  the  foothills  of  the 
Black  Hills — Mountains  would  have  been  a  more 
appropriate  word. 

tTom’s  wife  and  her  sister,  Ella  Ellis,  had  pro- 


164  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

fessed  religion  at  the  altar  that  night.  Elijah 
was  anxious  to  bring  Tom  into  the  fold  also,  be¬ 
cause  he  felt  that  one  in  a  family  still  holding  to 
the  carousing  habits  of  the  old  days  would  sooner 
or  later  break  up  the  spiritual  life  of  the  others. 
But  Elijah  was  not  prepared  for  the  thing  which 
happened  that  night  in  the  Armstrong  home. 

When  they  were  all  safe  and  snug  inside  the 
house,  they  grew  quiet,  after  a  few  moments  of 
conversation.  Then  Tom  exclaimed: 

“Let’s  sing  something.” 

Elijah  was  carrying  “Songs  of  Conquest”  in 
his  saddlebags  to  the  schoolhouse.  Armstrong 
had  bought  three  copies  at  the  first,  and  it  seemed 
that  they  had  been  practicing  the  pieces  in  the 
book  to  the  violin  accompaniment,  and  they  knew 
several  of  them  well.  “Beautiful  Isle  of  Some¬ 
where”  was  the  first  piece;  this  was  followed  by 
the  “Glory  Song”  and  “Saved  by  Grace.”  These 
three  selections  about  the  blessed  future  state 
caused  Elijah  to  remark: 

“You  folks  like  to  sing  about  heaven.” 

“Fact  is,  Parson,  my  father  is  a  Universalist, 
and  I  drift  to  what  he  would  like.  He  is  a  good 
man,  and  I  would  like  to  believe  that  his  doctrine 
about  there  being  no  hell  is  correct.  But  he  gets 
his  ideas  of  heaven  from  the  Bible,  and  the  same 
Book  teaches  the  doctrine  of  hell.” 


THE  FUNERAL  OF  A  FIDDLE  165 

“Did  you  learn  to  play  the  fiddle  from  your 
father4?” 

“No,  indeed.  He  dislikes  the  fiddle  and  the 
dance.” 

“How  did  you  get  into  the  way  of  playing  the 
fiddle4?” 

“Well,  you  see,  I  had  a  sort  of  a  knack  for  it. 
There’s  something  in  me  that  naturally  speaks 
back  to  a  violin.” 

“I  see;  and  you  and  your  fiddle  have  been  great 
friends?” 

“Yes.  There  are  only  a  few  things  I  love 
more.  I  don’t  know  if  there  is  anything,  except 
my  wife,  that  I  love  more.” 

“Oh,  yes,  of  course,  you  love  your  soul 
more.” 

44 Yes,  yes.  Of  course.” 

“What  did  you  think  of  the  proposition  to  go 
to  the  altar  to-night?” 

“I  wanted  to  go  very  much  when  I  saw  Mollie 
and  Ella  going;  but  my  training  was  strong  on 
me,  and  it  influenced  me  against  going.” 

4 ‘Well,  there  were  two  influences  at  work  in 
your  soul — one  to  go  to  the  altar,  the  other 
against  going.  Which  do  you  conscientiously  be¬ 
lieve  made  for  the  right?” 

4  4  To  tell  the  truth,  I  ought  to  have  gone  to  the 
altar.” 


166  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

“In  spite  of  the  Universalist  faith  that  you 
are  all  right  as  you  are?” 

“As  I  said  before,  hell  is  in  the  Bible,  as  well 
as  heaven.” 

“Yes;  and  sin  and  righteousness  are  in  the 
Bible.” 

“I  believe  I  told  you  once  that  my  father  is  a 
mighty  good  man.” 

“And  I  heartily  believe  you.  Now,  why  do 
you  suppose  that  he  is  a  Universalist?” 

“I  have  often  thought  it  is  on  account  of  us 
children.”  Here,  the  very  thing  that  Elijah  had 
found  true  of  several  Universalists  was  about  to 
turn  up  with  respect  to  Armstrong,  Sr. 

“How  would  you  children  have  anything  to 
do  with  the  matter?” 

“Well,  of  course  my  father  loves  his  children; 
all  of  them  are  already  damned,  if  sin  and  its 
punishment  are  to  be  taken  the  way  the  Bible 
puts  it;  his  partiality  for  us  has  made  him  grasp 
at  any  straw  for  relief  in  his  mind  that  we  are 
lost.  I  may  be  mistaken,  but  that  is  the  way  I 
have  figured  it.” 

“How  many  children  has  your  father?” 

“Two  other  sons  and  myself.  I  suppose  that 
you  may  say  that  I  am  the  best  one  of  the  bunch. 
My  two  brothers  drink  and  gamble,  curse  and 
swear.  I  have  no  such  inclinations,  but  I  fiddle 


THE  FUNERAL  OF  A  FIDDLE  167 

for  all  of  the  dances  in  the  country.  And,  four 
times  out  of  five,  it  is  at  the  dance  that  arrange¬ 
ments  are  made  to  gamble.  Four  fights  out  of 
five  take  place  at  the  dance.  Our  country  is  new, 
and  temptations  to  go  astray  don’t  catch  our 
young  girls  like  I  hear  they  are  caught  at  the 
dances  in  older  countries.” 

“How  do  you  explain  that?” 

“I  don’t  hardly  know  if  I  can  explain  it.  But 
you  see,  the  men  are  in  a  big  majority  here,  and 
every  girl  has  plenty  of  chances  to  marry.  So 
most  of  them  marry  before  much  temptation 
comes  their  way.” 

“Well,  now,  Tom,  what  are  you  going  to  do 
about  getting  religion?” 

“Why,  I  think  it  will  all  wind  up  by  my  pro¬ 
fessing.  I  am  awful  glad  to  have  you  here  to¬ 
night;  it  has  helped  me  a  whole  lot.  Now  you 
read  the  Bible  and  pray  for  me.” 

After  prayers,  Tom  drew  the  chords  of  Old 
Hundred,  saying: 

“Let’s  sing  the  doxology.” 

After  the  doxology,  Tom  very  solemnly  put  his 
violin  in  its  case.  Elijah  thought  to  himself  how 
like  a  coffin  it  looked.  Tom  then  stepped  to  the 
long  box  stove,  swung  back  the  top,  which  opened 
on  a  pivot,  and,  laying  the  instrument  in  its  case, 
which  looked  so  like  a  coffin,  on  the  great  bed  of 


168  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

hot  coals,  quickly  shut  the  top.  Elijah  sprang  up 
with  an  exclamation  of  disapproval  and  tried  to 
get  to  the  stove,  but  Armstrong  held  him  back. 

“Just  a  minute,  Parson;  what  do  you  want 
to  do?” 

“I  want  to  keep  that  splendid  instrument  from 
burning.”  But  even  then,  the  roar  of  the  flames 
within  the  stove  showed  that  he  was  too  late  to 
save  the  fiddle.  Tom’s  face  was  in  a  spasm. 
The  minister  said: 

“I  was  thinking,  only  a  moment  ago,  of  how 
you  might  dedicate  your  violin  to  the  service  of 
God.  I  knew  a  cornetist  once  who  did  great  good 
with  his  instrument.” 

“Yes,  I  had  thoughts  like  that  myself.  But 
I  was  afraid  of  the  temptation.  That  cornetist 
wasn’t  Tom  Armstrong.  I’m  starting  in  to  get 
religion,  and  I  don’t  intend  to  flirt  with  the  old 
things  which  I  am  leaving.  I  was  reading  to-day 
about  plucking  out  your  right  eye.  If  my  violin 
was  not  my  right  eye,  it  was  most.  Now  it’s  out 
of  the  way — one  trail  less  to  bumfuzzle  me  in 
getting  onto  the  Jesus  trail.  I’m  going  to  the 
altar  to-morrow  night.  Now  let’s  go  to  bed.” 

They  were  up  very  early,  and  about  daylight 
Elijah  Green  rode  off  for  a  little  tour  of  forty 
miles.  In  that  trip,  Elijah  saw  the  father  and 
two  brothers  of  Tom  Armstrong,  and  told  them 


THE  FUNERAL  OF  A  FIDDLE  169 

of  Tom’s  intention.  He  got  their  promises  to  be 
at  that  night’s  meeting.  Each  of  them  lived  on 
his  own  ranch,  some  distance  from  the  others, 
but  the  minister  saw  them  all  within  the  forty 
mile  circuit  and  was  on  time  at  the  meeting. 

This  was  the  seventh  night  of  the  series,  and 
the  New  Birth  was  the  general  theme.  All  four 
of  the  Armstrong  men  were  present.  When  the 
call  came  for  seekers  to  kneel  at  the  altar,  Tom 
came  forward  and  knelt.  Immediately  his  father 
was  by  his  side,  with  his  arm  around  him  and, 
with  his  mouth  close  to  his  ear,  said: 

“Oh,  Tommy,  my  boy,  call  mightily  on  God 
for  salvation.” 

“Salvation  from  what,  father*?” 

“From  anything  you  think  you  are  in  dan¬ 
ger  of.” 

“I  feel  in  danger  of  the  wrath  to  come;  but 
you  have  always  contended  that  there  is  no 
hell.” 

“Oh,  my  son,  maybe  there  is  a  hell.  Pray  for 
deliverance  from  it,  anyhow.” 

“All  right,  father;  you  pray  with  me.” 

Then  the  father  heart  explored  the  divine 
promises  for  the  son;  he  climbed  all  the  heights 
of  the  Kingdom;  he  pleaded  the  Atonement  with 
melting  fervor;  and  all  the  time  that  son  was 
saying  over  and  over : 


170 


ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 


“God,  save  me  from  hell.” 

At  last  the  father  quit  praying  and  listened 
for  a  moment  to  what  Tom  was  saying: 

“God,  save  me  from  hell.  God,  save  me  from 
hell.” 

“O  God,  hear  that  prayer,”  exclaimed  the 
father.  At  these  words,  the  younger  man  found 
peace  and  dropped  his  head  on  his  father’s  shoul¬ 
der,  crying: 

“He  saves  me  from  hell;  He  saves  me  from 
hell.  O  mighty  Saviour;  O  mighty  Saviour.” 


IX:  UP  FROM  THE  SLAVERY  OF 

LUST 


It  is  marvelous  what  a  transformation 
Godliness  makes  in  a  human  being .  It  is 
mysterious  how  that  which  is  spiritual  can  so 
impress  and  renovate  that  which  is  material , 
for  it  is  certain  that  Godliness  does  reach , 
modify ,  and  improve  every  faculty  and  power 
of  the  physical  organism .  The  affections  re¬ 
coil  from  every  debasing  attraction;  shake 
off  the  slime  of  worldly  alliances;  and  turn 
to  more  worthy  objects. 

James  Henry  Potts. 


IX 


Up  from  the  Slavery  of  Lust 

Augustine,  before  his  conversion,  resembled 
many  whom  we  see  every  day.  He  moved  in 
nice,  decent  society;  followed  the  genteel  occu¬ 
pation  of  teaching;  possessed  a  keen  intellect; 
was  omnivorously  studious;  was  of  a  naturally 
sweet  disposition,  binding  men  to  himself  as 
though  with  hooks  of  steel. 

This  brilliant  rhetorician,  the  son  of  a  devout 
widow,  was  a  Manichean,  which,  as  far  as  I 
can  make  out,  was  Fourth  and  Fifth  Century 
language  for  Christian  Scientist.  Manicheism 
was  a  cult  for  making  one  feel  easy  on  account 
of  sin,  at  the  same  time  that  he  was  displaying 
unctuous  piety.  Long  before  his  conversion, 
Augustine  was  sure  of  the  intrinsic  rottenness  of 
the  doctrines  and  life  of  his  sect.  Why  did  he 
continue  to  walk  with  the  Manicheans?  Because 
he  was  as  rotten  as  his  sect,  and  because  Chris¬ 
tianity  condemned  him,  while  Manicheism  con¬ 
demned  him  not.  The  answer  reaches  to  the 
depths  of  the  diseased  state  of  man  in  his  wan¬ 
derings  from  God.  It  is  an  indelicate  subject, 

but  so  important  that  it  ought  to  be  put  into 

173 


174  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

print  for  modern  Augustines.  Thou  Christ  of 
pure  thoughts,  but  unsparing  words,  guide  me 
aright  in  what  I  here  set  down: 

In  brief,  until  he  was  thirty-three  years  old, 
Augustine  was  a  common,  out-and-out  libertine. 
While  yet  in  his  teens,  he  formed  an  illicit  con¬ 
nection  with  a  woman  who  was  the  mother  of  his 
son,  Adeodatus.  His  sin  so  obsessed  him  that  he 
left  his  home  in  North  Africa  and  slipped  away 
from  his  mother  to  go  to  Italy,  where  he  might 
give  free  rein  to  his  lust.  But  his  mother  fol¬ 
lowed  him,  and  together  they  lived  in  Milan, 
where  he  became  intimate  with  Ambrose,  and 
where  Augustine  daily  sank  deeper  in  spiritual 
despair,  and  “in  the  lust  of  the  eye,  the  lust  of 
the  flesh,  and  the  pride  of  life.” 

No  man  ever  wanted  salvation  more  than  did 
Augustine,  but  lust  held  the  greatest  intellect  of 
that  age  an  unwilling  captive,  while  he  raved  and 
tore  at  the  fetters  which  bound  him.  The  ex¬ 
cruciating  pangs  of  his  soul  make  the  most  har¬ 
rowing  literature  outside  the  penitential  Psalms. 

And  then  the  climax  came.  He  suddenly  rose 
one  day  and  left  the  company  with  whom  he  was 
talking  because  he  didn’t  want  to  cry  in  their 
presence  and,  going  into  the  garden,  threw  him¬ 
self  under  a  fig  tree,  where  he  rocked  and  shook 
in  agony.  A  child  in  a  neighboring  house  began 
to  sing: 


UP  FROM  THE  SLAVERY  OF  LUST  .175 

“Take  up  and  read;  take  up  and  read.” 

Wonderingly  he  returned  to  the  house  and, 
lifting  a  volume  of  Apostolic  epistles  from  the 
table,  opened  it  with  a  prayer  and  read : 

“Not  in  rioting  and  drunkenness;  not  in  cham¬ 
bering  and  wantonness;  not  in  strife  and  envy¬ 
ing;  but  put  ye  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
make  not  provisions  for  the  flesh,  to  fulfil  the 
lusts  thereof.”  Right  there  “all  the  gloom  of 
doubt  vanished  away.” 

The  Christ  who  had  lived  a  continent  life  on 
earth  as  many  years  as  Augustine  had  lived  wick¬ 
edly  now  entered  and  dominated  the  new  man’s 
life.  Whereas,  before,  he  had  said  of  his  mis¬ 
tresses,  “How  can  I  live  without  them4?”  he  now 
found  it  entirely  easy  to  live  without  them.  His 
walk  from  that  day  was  an  example  of  rectitude 
and  continence. 

It  is  a  far  cry  from  a  Fifth  Century  theologian 
to  a  Nineteenth  Century  Ohio  River  pilot,  but 
that  is  the  transition  I  must  make. 

One  night  in  the  Eighties  of  the  last  century, 
the  officers  and  passengers  were  discussing  re¬ 
ligion  around  a  table  in  the  cabin  of  an  Ohio 
River  steamboat.  The  pilot  off  duty,  a  debonair, 
soft-spoken  man,  was  leading  the  conversation. 
Elijah  Green  and  the  express  messenger  were  in¬ 
terested  observers  and  listeners  only,  until  the 


176  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

conversation  changed  to  marriage.  The  mes¬ 
senger  and  the  pilot  lived  in  the  port  at  the  end 
of  the  voyage,  and  Elijah  was  serving  a  church 
ten  miles  from  the  city. 

Now  this  pilot  seemed  to  make  no  secret  of 
his  dissolute  life.  All  through  the  religious  dis¬ 
cussion,  he  freely  used  the  sophistry  of  Robert  G. 
Ingersoll,  who  was  prominently  before  the  public 
in  his  lectures  against  revealed  religion.  Elijah 
was  not  surprised  that,  when  the  subject  turned 
to  marriage,  which  might  easily  have  been  treated 
merely  from  the  social  standpoint,  the  pilot  was 
plainly  impatient  at  the  idea  of  its  divine  insti¬ 
tution.  The  messenger,  a  genial,  cultured  little 
Irishman,  here  joined  in  the  conversation: 

“I  have  always  said  that  if  there  is  any  insti¬ 
tution  on  earth  which  may  be  considered  of 
divine  origin,  it  must  be  the  family,  which  is 
established  by  marriage.55 

'“Tut,  tut,  Meginniss.  Rousseau  says  that  all 
such  is  a  factitious  sentiment,  engendered  by 
society,  and  cried  up  by  the  women  with  great 
care  and  address,  in  order  to  establish  their  em¬ 
pire  and  secure  command  to  that  sex  which  ought 
to  obey.55 

“I  suppose,  of  course,  that  there  is  no  possi¬ 
bility  that  Rousseau  may  have  been  mistaken,” 
replied  Meginniss,  dryly. 

“Well,  yes,  he  may  have  been  mistaken;  and 


UP  FROM  THE  SLAVERY  OF  LUST  177 

it  is  among  the  possibilities  that  you  are  mis¬ 
taken.” 

“If  I  have  read  the  truth  about  Rousseau,  he 
was  a  devil  of  a  fellow — and  a  bachelor.  And 
it  may  be  entirely  fitting,  Graham,  that  you,  a 
bachelor  and  a  devil  of  a  fellow,  should  quote 
him.” 

“I  have  never  heard  that  a  single  life  is  against 
the  law.” 

“Tell  us,  Graham,  honestly,  why  are  you  not 
married?” 

“I  presume  it  is  all  right  for  those  who  can 
afford  it  to  marry,  but  I  could  never  marry  on 
my  salary.  I  was  just  going  to  ask  you,  Megin- 
ness,  for  a  loan  of  ten  dollars  until  next  payday. 
How  could  I  get  along  as  a  married  man  on  my 
pay,  when,  as  a  bachelor,  I  have  to  borrow 
money?” 

Meginness  took  out  his  pocket  book,  and  took 
from  it  a  ten  dollar  bill.  He  held  it  toward 
Graham,  and  asked: 

“What  will  you  be  doing  with  this  money, 
Graham?”  The  pilot  airily  replied: 

“Oh,  we’ll  be  in  port  for  six  hours,  and  I’ll 
want  to  have  a  pleasant  time.” 

“Possibly  with  some  of  the  soiled  doves  on 
Division  Street?” 

“Why,  Meginness,  old  boy,  you  are  a  mind 
reader.”  He  had  reached  for  the  money  and  had 


178  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

one  end  of  the  bill  in  his  hand,  but  the  express 
messenger  was  still  holding  firmly  to  the  other 
end.  There  was  scorn  in  the  Irishman’s  next 
words : 

“It  comes  with  a  splendid  grace  from  you,  a 
bachelor,  to  be  borrowing  money  from  me,  a  mar¬ 
ried  man,  when  your  intention  is  to  use  the  money 
in  breaking  the  Seventh  Commandment.” 

“Don’t  get  melodramatic,  Meginness.  Come, 
now,  let  go  of  the  money.  You’ll  get  it  back, 
with  eight  per  cent  a  month,  on  payday.”  But 
Meginness  held  to  the  money.  He  smiled  pleas¬ 
antly  at  the  rest  of  the  company  and  continued: 

“I  would  like  for  the  rest  of  you  to  notice  what 
a  singular  turn  this  matter  has  taken.  My  good 
friend  Graham  doesn’t  believe  that  the  family  is 
a  sacred  institution,  while  I  do  so  believe.  He 
backs  his  belief  by  remaining  single  and  spending 
his  money  on  harlots;  I  have  backed  my  belief 
by  marrying,  and  at  present  I  have  three  children, 
all  straight  of  limb  and  clear  of  eye,  and  yet,  my 
good  friend  Graham  draws  $150  a  month,  while 
I  have  the  magnificent  income  of  $60  a  month. 
As  he  said  that  he  could  not  marry  because  his 
salary  is  too  small,  how  does  it  happen  that  he 
cannot  pull  through  to  the  next  payday,  in  his 
state  of  single-blessedness,  with  a  salary  two-and- 
a-half  times  the  size  of  mine?  I’d  be  ashamed, 


UP  FROM  THE  SLAVERY  OF  LUST  179 

Graham,  if  I  were  you,  to  seek  a  loan  of  a  mar¬ 
ried  man. 

“And  then,  I  wish  that  you  would  consider, 
for  a  moment,  how  I  shall  feel,  if  I  let  you  have 
this  money.  I  am  the  priest  of  my  family,  and 
my  wife  is  the  priestess.  We  are  solemnly  con¬ 
secrated  to  the  task  of  rearing  three  little  lambs 
whom  God  has  given  us,  so*  that  they  may  honor 
Him  who  gave  them  to  us,  in  their  lives,  which 
are  His.  I  ask  every  one  at  this  table  if  it  would 
not  be  a  stultification  of  myself  to  allow  this 
money  to  be  put  to  any  such  use,  when  I  earned 
it  with  the  noble  purpose  of  supporting  my  chil¬ 
dren  with  it.”  Elijah  banged  his  fist  harder  than 
was  necessary  on  the  table  and,  leaning  over  to¬ 
ward  Meginness,  almost  shouted: 

“You  can’t  lend  the  money  and  retain  your 
self-respect.”  Graham  let  go  of  his  end  of  the 
bill  and,  lighting  a  cigar,  sneered: 

“Evidently,  you  fellows  have  been  practicing 
on  your  little  piece  of  melodrama.  You  got  it 
off  real  well.” 

“No,  Graham,  we  didn’t  rehearse  our  piece  at 
all.  It  was  one  of  those  recitals  which  naturally 
recites  itself.  I  don’t  wish  you  any  better  luck 
than  for  you  to  get  very  anxious  about  this  mat¬ 
ter;  to  see  where  you  stand;  to  repent  of  all  your 
wicked  doings;  to  be  saved  from  your  sins;  and 


180  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

for  you  to  marry  a  good  woman  and  raise  a 
godly  family.” 

“Amen!”  exclaimed  Elijah. 

All  of  this  affected  the  pilot  visibly.  He  arose 
as  nonchalantly  as  possible. 

“Well,  I  must  be  getting  my  sleep  due  me  on 
this  watch.” 

When  he  was  out  of  earshot,  Meginness  asked : 

“Was  I  too  hard  on  him,  boys*?” 

“Not  a  little  bit,”  snorted  the  captain. 
“Graham  has  been  spreading  on  his  reputation 
for  deviltry  too  thick.  I’m  not  religious,  to 
hurt,  but  there  are  bounds  of  decency — even  on 
a  steamboat.” 

Of  course  Elijah  was  glad  to  further  cultivate 
the  Irishman’s  acquaintance.  They  went  out  on 
the  guards  and  talked  a  long  time. 

As  the  minister  and  the  express  messenger  were 
walking  up  Water  Street,  next  morning,  the  pilot 
was  some  ten  feet  in  front.  Suddenly  he  turned 
and  said: 

“I  want  you  two  gentlemen  to  pray  for  me.” 
The  minister  promptly  replied: 

“Where  shall  we  go  to  pray?  Have  you  any 
special  temptation  from  which  you  want  to  be 
delivered?” 

“I  want  to  be  delivered  from  unholy  lust.  I 
heartily  wish  to  change  my  life.  Come  in  here.” 


UP  FROM  THE  SLAVERY  OF  LUST  181 

They  were  passing  the  pilot’s  hotel  on  Water 
Street  and  turned  into  it.  He  led  them  to  his 
room  and,  when  they  were  seated,  continued: 

“My  mind  is  in  a  turmoil.  I  have  a  different 
view  of  things  since  our  talk  last  night.  I  have 
been  a  wicked,  selfish  man.  I  have  allowed  my 
lust  free  rein,  and  it  has  steadily  grown  more 
difficult  to  curb.  My  profession  has  always  af¬ 
forded  me  enough  money  to  gratify  my  unholy 
desires,  and,  having  no  one  dependent  on  me,  I 
have  come  to  a  most  awful  state.  I  never 
realized  how  bad  it  was  until  last  night.  That 
was  the  first  real  religious  talk  I  have  heard 
for  ten  years.  Pete  is  getting  but  $60  a  month, 
supporting  himself,  his  wife,  and  three  children 
on  it;  I  am  spending  $150  a  month  on  worse 
than  nothing.  His  scorn  made  me  feel  smaller 
than  I  ever  felt  before.  He  was  so  pleasant 
about  it  that  I  could  not  get  angry,  but  the  cut¬ 
ting  sarcasm  stung  me  almost  to  madness  as  I 
lay  on  my  bed,  trying  to  go  to  sleep.  I  am  in  a 
terrible  state  of  mind  and  want  you  to  pray  for 
me.  I  have  been  trying  to  pray,  but  I  was  not 
raised  religiously,  and  I  don’t  seem  to  get  at  it  in 
the  right  way.”  He  was  going  down  on  his 
knees,  and  the  others  knelt  with  him. 

The  minister  prayed  first.  He  took  the  pilot’s 
case  to  their  Heavenly  Father  and  asked  for  the 


182  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

cleansing  blood  for  this  man.  Elijah  did  his 
best,  but  he  was  not  in  sympathy  with  the  case. 
Gross,  fleshly  sins  had  never  had  any  power  over 
him.  Then  the  suddenness  of  it,  when  his 
thoughts  were  off  on  the  business  of  this  voyage 
down  the  river,  had  caught  him  in  a  sort  of 
spiritual  nap.  So  it  seemed  to  him  that  his 
prayers  were  not  availing  much,  and  he  closed 
rather  lamely. 

When  Green  closed,  Meginness  opened  up. 
His  warm  Milesian  nature  was  all  afire  for  this 
man  for  whom  he  was  praying.  His  words  were 
very  pointed,  and  no  one,  especially  the  Lord, 
could  misunderstand  them.  Conviction  laid  hold 
of  the  wicked  man  with  tenfold  more  power  than 
before,  so  that  he  groveled  on  the  floor.  In  a 
wave  of  ardor,  Meginness  cried: 

“Holy  Christ,  for  the  sake  of  thy  own  pure 
life,  knock  down  the  devil  of  lust  in  this  poor 
wretch,  and  drag  it  forth,  and  cast  it  away  for¬ 
ever  and  forever  more.” 

“Amen!”  shouted  the  pilot.  Then  he  arose 
from  the  floor  and,  catching  the  Irishman  in  his 
arms,  began  to  pound  him  on  the  back  with  the 
palm  of  his  hand. 

“He’s  done  it,  Pete;  He’s  done  it,  Pete.  I’m 
as  good  a  man  this  minute  as  you  are.  I’m 
clean.  Oh,  I’m  clean.  Oh,  Christ  saves  me; 
Christ  saves  me.” 


UP  FROM  THE  SLAVERY  OF  LUST  183 

More  than  two  years  afterwards  Elijah  met 
Meginness  and  asked : 

“How  is  our  friend,  the  pilot*?” 

“Oh,  didn’t  you  hear?  He  was  married  about 
a  month  ago.  His  wife  spent  the  honeymoon  on 
the  boat.  She  is  one  dear  little  woman.  Not  at 
all  handsome,  but  very  handy,  and  a  good  Chris¬ 
tian.  My  wife  got  them  together.  She  was  the 
first  woman  since  his  conversion  that  he  had 
talked  to,  longer  than  five  minutes.  When  he 
discovered  that  he  was  in  love  with  her,  he  came 
to  me  about  it. 

“  Tete,  here  is  my  punishment.  I  have  no 
right  to  a  good,  pure  woman.  The  sins  of  my 
former  life  have  set  me  apart  from  the  pure  joys 
of  matrimony.5 

“He  broke  down  and  cried.  I  never  felt  so 
sorry  for  anybody,  since  the  day  he  asked  us  to 
pray  for  him.  But  I  replied  to  him: 

“  ‘Now,  Graham,  aren’t  you  a  saved  man?5 

“  ‘Yes,  thank  God.5 

“  ‘Well,  don’t  you  believe  that  you  will  be 
with  the  angels  and  the  blood-washed  Church  in 
the  world  to  come?’ 

“  ‘Yes,  truly  I  believe  that.5 

“  ‘Well,  this  woman  you  love  here  on  earth 
surely  is  no  purer  than  the  angels  in  heaven.  It 
seems  to  me  that  you  can  ask  her  to  be  your  mate 


184  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

in  this  life,  if  you  expect  to  associate  with  angels 
in  the  next  life.’ 

“  ‘But  doubtless  she  thinks  that  I  was  always 
a  good  man.  And  it  would  be  a  shame  to  deceive 
such  a  pure  creature.’ 

“  ‘Do  not  deceive  her.  Tell  her  the  truth,  and 
let  her  judge  whether  she  can  take  you.  Tell  her 
that  the  blood  covers  the  past,  but  that  she  ought 
to  know  it!’  ” 

“And  how  did  he  manage  it?”  asked  Elijah. 

“Well,  you  see,  they  did  their  courting  in  our 
parlor,  because  his  wife  was  a  nurse  and  boarded 
with  us,  when  she  was  not  employed.  He  pro¬ 
posed  to  her  in  regular  form,  but  added: 

“  ‘Now,  Miss  Davis,  I  want  you  to  understand 
that  I  have  not  always  been  a  good  man.  I  was 
an  especially  bad  sinner  against  the  command¬ 
ment  which  you  will  find  marked  in  this  Bible, 
that  I  want  you  to  have  as  a  gift  from  me.  Wait 
until  I  am  gone,  and  then  hunt  up  the  twentieth 
chapter  of  Exodus  and  read  the  marked  verse. 
I  am  not  so  much  as  worthy  to  kiss  the  ground 
where  your  feet  have  trodden.  I  have  repented 
sincerely  and  expected  to  live  a  single  life,  until 
you  came  into  it.  I  wish  that  you  may  answer 
me  favorably,  but  I  dare  not  hope  for  it.  Fare¬ 
well  for  the  present.  I  shall  return  for  my  an¬ 
swer  on  two  weeks  from  to-night.’ 

“Well,  Mary  brought  that  Bible,  with  the 


UP  FROM  THE  SLAVERY  OF  LUST  185 

Seventh  Commandment  marked  in  red  ink,  to 
Mrs.  Meginness.  They  cried  and  prayed  over  it 
a  long  time,  and  finally  Mary  said: 

“  ‘Well,  I  love  him,  and  he  loves  me.  He  may 
have  been  not  so  pure  as  some  other  men,  but  he 
is  honest.  I  believe  that  my  happiness  will  be 
safe  in  his  keeping,  so  I  shall  accept  him  when 
he  comes  the  next  time.5 

“So  that  was  the  upshot  of  it.  That’s  my  boat 
whistling,  and  I  am  four  blocks  away.  I’ll  have 
to  run;  good-by  and  God  bless  you.” 


X:  THOU  ART  THE  MAN 


It  is  possible  for  you  to  abstain  from  the 
fleshly  lusts  which  have  been  subjugating 
your  soul.  Every  command  carries  a  promise 
at  its  heart ;  and  this  loving  entreaty  for  a 
better ,  purer  life ,  hides  a  Divine  undertak¬ 
ing  that  you  shall  yet  be  more  than  con¬ 
queror, ,  putting  your  foot  on  flesh  and  self , 
and  reigning  where  now  you  groan  in  slavery . 
Take  heart!  it  is  possible  even  for  you  to 
abstain  from  fleshly  lusts ,  because  God  is 
able  to  keep . 


Rev.  F.  R.  Meyer. 


X 


Thou  Art  the  Man 

The  Rev.  Andrew  J.  Thickstun  came  out  of 
the  stable  with  his  horse  saddled,  into  the  snow 
with  all  the  more  relish  on  his  third  round  of  the 
Scotland  Circuit,  because  of  the  solemn  duty-urge 
which  he  felt  that  Sunday  morning.  He  was 
gently  bred  and  born;  had  received  training  clear 
through  the  Indiana  University;  had  practiced 
law  for  ten  years  at  Bloomfield;  but  had  suc¬ 
cumbed,  at  last,  to  the  insistent  call  to  the  service 
for  souls  and  was  now  fairly  launched  upon  that 
career.  This  morning  found  him  especially  fit, 
for  he  had  just  spent  a  half-hour  in  the  stable, 
praying  for  help,  and  emerged  in  a  state  of 
spiritual  levitation  which  boded  well  for  what¬ 
ever  his  hand  might  find  to  do  that  day.  It  was 
in  1848,  when  much  wilderness  was  still  un¬ 
broken  in  the  Hoosier  State.  Scotland  was  a 
twelve-class  circuit,  so  that  the  regular  monthly 
appointments  might  come  on  Sunday.  His  ap¬ 
pointment,  that  morning,  was  only  five  miles 
away,  where  he  had  not  met  much  of  a  crowd. 
He  speculated,  whimsically,  as  to  the  probable 

number  who  would  meet  him,  and  fell  to  won- 

189 


190  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

dering  what  his  subject  would  be.  He  had  been 
a  local  preacher  for  all  those  years  he  had  prac¬ 
ticed  law  and  had  almost  never  used  a  pre¬ 
arranged  sermon.  His  university  training,  om¬ 
nivorous  reading,  perfect  command  of  the  Bible, 
large  human  sympathy  and  acute  legal  intellect 
generally  guided  him  with  precision  to  the  sub¬ 
ject  and  the  text,  which  were  nearly  always  sug¬ 
gested  by  local  circumstances. 

On  one  occasion,  some  sacrilegious  vandal  had 
cut  off  a  portion  of  the  lower  corner  of  the  pulpit 
Bible,  during  the  big  meeting.  It  was  casually 
mentioned  by  the  preacher  in  the  next  morning's 
sermon.  “Jack"  Thickstun  was  the  local  preacher 
selected  for  the  afternoon  sermon.  He  had  col¬ 
lected  the  scraps  from  the  mutilated  Book,  and 
had  preserved  the  three  pieces  which  contained 
the  only  coherent  thought  in  a  full  sentence. 
On  each  of  these  three  scraps  were  the  words, 
“God  forbid."  From  this  sentiment,  Mr.  Thick¬ 
stun  wove  a  trenchant  discourse.  It  was  a  call 
that  God  would  forbid  such  vandalism  in  the 
future,  and  especially  that  He  would  forbid  that 
this  particular  vandal  should  be  cut  off  as  he  had 
cut  off  a  part  of  God's  Word. 

One  of  those  horny-handed  Hoosiers  had  said : 

“Jack  Thickstun’s  memory  is  like  a  tar-bucket 
— whatever  touches  it  sticks  to  it."  Whereat  an¬ 
other  had  remarked : 


THOU  ART  THE  MAN 


191 


“And  Jack  himself  is  like  a  cat;  wherever  he 
may  fall,  and  however  he  may  fall,  he  always 
lights  on  his  feet.”  All  of  this,  however,  is  aside 
from  the  events  of  that  particular  First  Sunday 
in  December,  1848. 

As  the  minister  was  passing  the  last  house  on 
the  road  to  his  appointment,  a  man  came  out  of 
it  and  joined  him.  The  snow  was  deep,  and  the 
minister’s  horse  broke  a  path  for  the  foot  pas¬ 
senger.  Mr.  Thickstun  remarked: 

“I  presume  that  there  will  be  a  very  small  at¬ 
tendance  to-day.” 

“Undoubtedly,”  was  the  terse  reply. 

“And  this  appointment  has  never  been  remark¬ 
able  for  its  large  attendance.” 

“That’s  very  true,  sir.  I  saw  you  as  soon  as 
you  rode  into  the  clearing  and  determined  then 
to  go  to  preaching.  Nobody  else,  belonging  to 
this  neighborhood,  has  seen  you  this  morning.  So 
I  guess  they  will  all  say  that  you  will  scarcely 
venture  out  in  such  a  storm,  and  accordingly  they 
will  all  remain  at  home.” 

“What  is  your  name,  Brother?” 

“My  name  is  Silas  Jones,  but  I  do  not  deserve 
the  handle  'Brother’  to  my  name.” 

“Why  not?” 

“I  don’t  belong  to  the  church.” 

“That  is  not  the  only  qualification,  witli  me, 
for  the  term  'Brother.’  I  regard  all  human  be- 


192  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

ings  as  children  of  the  All-Father.  In  that  sense, 
I  can  call  you  'Brother/  and  I  think  that  you 
can  return  the  compliment.” 

“Very  good,  Brother  Thickstun;  it  doesn’t  seem 
that  it  would  be  very  hard  to  call  you  'Brother’, 
also,  from  the  standpoint  of  church  membership.” 

“I  sincerely  trust  that  such  may  shortly  be  the 
case.  Why  is  it  that  you  are  not  a  member  of 
the  church4?” 

“Because  I  do  not  feel  worthy.” 

“In  what  way  do  you  consider  yourself  un¬ 
worthy4?  Are  you  morally  unfit,  or  do  you  lack 
an  evangelical  experience?” 

“I  am  morally  unfit.  Of  course,  I  lack  the 
evangelical  experience,  also.  But  I  am  not  one 
of  these  sinners  who  goes  around  pointing  his 
finger  at  no-account  professors  of  religion.  The 
triflingest  one  in  the  church  is  a  credit  to  me;  for 
however  trifling  he  may  be,  he  is  trying,  which 
I  can’t  say  for  myself.” 

“I  certainly  thank  you,  in  behalf  of  the  church, 
for  that  sentiment.  I  so  often  hear  men  say:  'I 
am  as  good  as  some  of  your  church  members.’  ” 

“The  fellow  who  will  say  that  is  always  in  a 
corner,  and  he  blurts  out  anything  which  he 
thinks  will  justify  himself.  Now,  I’m  just  natu¬ 
rally  ashamed  of  my  unfitness.  I  can’t  improve 
my  condition  by  picking  flaws  in  church  mem¬ 
bers,  so  I  quietly  confess  my  shortcomings.” 


THOU  ART  THE  MAN  193 

“You  excite  my  curiosity  to  know  what  par¬ 
ticular  shortcomings  you  have.” 

Thickstun  was  turned  halfway  around,  lean¬ 
ing  back,  with  his  hand  on  the  horse’s  back,  be¬ 
hind  the  saddle.  He  was  looking  straight  into 
Jones’s  face,  and  the  pointedness  of  his  remark 
was  blunted  by  the  geniality  beaming  from  his 
sympathetic  countenance.  Thus  he  had  disarmed 
many  an  opposing  witness  in  the  former  litigious 
days.  Silence  followed  for  a  few  moments,  dur¬ 
ing  which  the  fellow  plodded  along  through  the 
snow,  evidently  in  deep  thought.  At  last  he 
blurted  out: 

“To  tell  you  the  plain  truth,  Parson,  I  am  sup¬ 
porting  a  concubine.  I  have  a  good  wife  and 
four  children,  but  this  woman  has  wound  herself 
around  my  affections,  until  I  am  ashamed  to  look 
straightforward  people  in  the  face.” 

“I  should  think  you  would  be  ashamed.” 

They  had  now  reached  the  schoolhouse,  and 
were  soon  busy  starting  a  fire  in  the  immense  fire¬ 
place.  When  they  had  it  going  properly,  they 
sat  down  and  waited  for  the  congregation,  but 
no  one  else  came.  At  last,  the  minister  arose  be¬ 
hind  the  teacher’s  desk  and  said : 

“I  don’t  believe  that  any  one  else  will  be  here 
to-day,  so  I  shall  go  ahead.  We  will  sing,  ‘Come, 
Thou  Fount.’  ” 

Then  followed  prayer;  reading  of  the  twelfth 


194  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

chapter  of  Second  Samuel;  another  hymn;  then 
the  sermon.  The  text  was  the  sentence  in  the 
seventh  verse  of  the  twelfth  chapter  of  Second 
Samuel,  which  reads: 

“Thou  art  the  man.” 

The  minister  opened  by  saying  that  God  had 
providentially  limited  the  audience  to  one  man, 
so  that  the  preacher  might  speak  plainly  and  not 
cause  scandal.  He  then  took  up  Silas  Jones’s 
sin,  and  held,  that  although  it  was  not  exactly 
like  David’s,  it  was  still  a  most  heinous  crime 
against  his  lawful  wife  and  children.  The  money 
he  was  giving  to  the  concubine  legally  and  prop¬ 
erly  belonged  to  the  lawful  wife  and  her  chil¬ 
dren.  That  no  children  had  been  born  of  the 
illicit  connection  was  providential,  and  probably 
an  express  provision  of  the  Almighty,  for  al¬ 
though  He  could  not  coerce  the  wicked  pair,  He 
could  cause  the  sterility  of  the  woman,  so  that 
no  bastard  should  take  from  the  lawful  children 
their  support.  The  wrong  was  played  up  by  the 
preacher  with  telling  force,  so  that  the  awfulness 
of  the  crime  appeared  in  its  blackest  hue.  Jones 
writhed  and  twisted  under  the  blistering  denun¬ 
ciation.  But  the  preacher  was  so  kindly  and 
genial,  withal,  that  the  “audience”  could  not  get 
angry  with  him.  His  audience  was  both  culprit 
and  jury — quite  different  from  a  common  case  at 
law.  The  conclusion  was  a  warm  exhortation  to 


THOU  ART  THE  MAN  195 

shake  off  the  coils  of  the  she-serpent  that  had 
bound  him. 

At  the  close  of  the  sermon,  Silas  Jones  was  sit¬ 
ting  with  flaming  cheeks  and  stertorous  breath. 

The  preacher  exclaimed:  “Brother  Jones,  lead 
our  prayers.5’ 

But  Jones  could  say  nothing  but:  “God  be 
merciful  to  me,  a  sinner.55 

The  minister  took  up  the  prayer.  He  asked  for 
a  resolution  from  the  poor,  bedeviled  fellow — 
asked  God  to  put  it  into  his  heart  to  say  right 
there  and  then  that  he  would  turn  from  the  siren 
who  had  bewitched  him.  After  a  time  he  ceased 
praying,  and  before  he  said  amen  asked  Jones  to 
make  this  resolution  on  his  knees.  Jones  did  so. 
Mr.  Thickstun  said  “Amen,”  and  then  they  arose 
to  their  feet.  Jones  was  bathed  in  tears  and  fell 
on  Thickstun’s  neck  and  sobbed  like  a  child. 
After  some  moments,  he  spoke: 

“How  am  I  to  get  rid  of  this  woman?” 

“Where  does  she  live*?55 

“About  a  half-mile  from  here,  on  my  place.55 

“Does  your  wife  understand  the  situation*?55 

“I  suspect  that  she  does.55 

“What  is  the  woman’s  ostensible  means  of 
livelihood*?55 

“She  washes  and  sews  for  my  wife.55 

“How  will  it  do  for  your  wife,  you,  and  me  to 
talk  to  her  about  it?55 


196  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

“We  might  ask  my  wife.” 

They  went  back  to  Jones’s  house,  and  taking 
Mrs.  Jones  in  a  room  apart  from  the  family,  the 
minister  told  her  of  her  husband’s  return  to  God. 
She  embraced  Silas  chastely,  and  Thickstun  con¬ 
tinued: 

“Sister  Jones,  your  husband  has  been  sinning 
grievously  against  you  and  his  children.  He 
wishes  to  remove  the  cause  of  his  sin  from  his 
presence.  I  propose  that  the  three  of  us  go  to 
this  woman,  tell  her  what  has  happened  to  Silas, 
and  persuade  her  to  remove  from  this  neighbor¬ 
hood” 

“Oh,  sir,  that  would  be  such  an  indelicate  thing 
for  me  to  do.” 

“I  realize  that,  but  I  feel  that  the  wronged 
wife  in  this  case  will  be  so  much  abler  to  influ¬ 
ence  her  than  Jones  or  I.  If  you  can  control  your 
temper  when  you  tell  her  to  leave,  I  feel  that  all 
will  go  well.” 

“The  grace  of  God  will  be  sufficient  for  me.” 

So  across  the  fields,  to  the  harlot’s  house,  these 
three  went  on  their  strange  errand.  The  woman 
wonderingly  invited  them  into  her  little  cabin. 
Mrs.  Jones  opened  the  subject: 

“We  have  come,  Molly,  to  tell  you  that  Silas 
professed  religion  to-day,  at  the  schoolhouse.” 
Thickstun  was  watching  the  woman  to  see  if  any¬ 
thing  like  scorn  or  incredulity  would  show.  But 


THOU  ART  THE  MAN 


197 


he  saw,  instead,  a  lively  interest,  mingled  with 
what  seemed  to  him  like  penitence.  She  replied : 

“I  am  real  glad  to  hear  it.  I,  myself,  have 
been  praying  to-day,  but  I  do  not  seem  to  get  any¬ 
where.  But  I  promised  the  Lord,  not  an  hour 
ago,  to  move  away  from  here,  where  I  have 
sinned,  more  than  you  would  believe,  Hetty.  In 
some  other  place,  I  can  live  a  better  life  than  I 
have  been  living  here.  I  have  done  you  a  great 
wrong,  Hetty,  and  I  ask  your  pardon.  If  you 
will  forgive  me,  maybe  God  will  forgive  me.  He 
forgave  another  such  as  I  have  been.  I  shall 
move,  to-morrow,  to  Sullagent.  If  Mr.  Thick- 
stun  can  believe  in  me,  he  will  help  me  to  find 
work.” 

This  direct  solution  of  their  difficulty  was  as 
providential,  Mr.  Thickstun  said,  as  the  fact  that 
no  one  but  Silas  went  to  meeting  at  the  school- 
house.  Silas  Jones  was  restored  to  the  confidence 
of  his  wife;  Mollie  moved  to  Sullagent  and  lived 
a  blameless  life  for  years,  dying  at  an  advanced 
age,  respected  by  all. 

A  STICKER 

Soon  after  the  above  events,  the  big  meeting 
came  off  in  Scotland.  One  evening,  a  young  man, 
very  much  intoxicated,  made  his  way  to  the  front, 
and  gave  his  hand  to  Mr.  Thickstun,  in  token  of 


198  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

his  desire  to  join  the  church.  The  minister  gave 
him  a  seat  on  the  front  pew,  and  took  his  name 
in  all  good  faith. 

The  young  fellow  had  been  incited  to  the  act 
by  some  mischievous  folks  in  the  rear  of  the 
house.  His  mother,  a  devout  widow,  was  greatly 
scandalized.  She  and  the  minister  got  him  home 
and  to  bed.  Then  the  minister,  promising  to  call 
early  in  the  morning,  went  home.  The  next 
morning,  the  mother  bitterly  reproached  her  son 
for  having  disturbed  the ‘meeting  the  night  before. 
He  retorted: 

“Mother,  in  what  way  did  I  disturb  the  meet¬ 
ing?” 

“By  going  up  to  the  front  and  joining  the 
church  while  you  were  drunk.” 

“Did  I  join  the  church  while  I  was  drunk?” 

“Yes,  and  it  mortified  me  nearly  to  death,” 
replied  the  weeping  mother.  The  son  arose  from 
the  table  and  went  around  to  his  mother’s  place. 
He  took  her  head  in  his  arms  and,  smoothing 
back  the  hair  from  her  forehead,  reverently 
kissed  it,  saying  slowly  and  solemnly: 

“I  don’t  remember  a  thing  about  it,  mother, 
dear;  but  as  I  joined  while  I  was  drunk,  a  good 
thing  will  be  to  stick  to  it  while  I  am  sober.  I 
drop  the  drink  right  here;” 

Just  then  Mr.  Thickstun  knocked  at  the  door. 
John  opened  it,  and  said: 


THOU  ART  THE  MAN 


199 


‘'Good  morning,  sir.  My  mother  has  been  tell¬ 
ing  me  that  I  joined  the  church  last  night  while 
I  was  drunk,  and  I  said  that  I  shall  stick  to  it 
while  I  am  sober,  which  will  be  a  long  time,  for 
I  have  dropped  liquor  forever  and  forever.55 

The  minister  was  standing,  holding  his  hand; 
Mrs.  Hogan  had  crept  up  to  his  left  side,  and  his 
arm  was  around  her.  He  continued : 

"Of  course,  this  depends  on  whether  my  action 
was  valid.  Do  you  consider  me  a  member  of  the 
church?55 

"I  put  your  name  down  as  a  probationer.  LYou 
are  on  six  months5  trial.55 

"Good!  I  shall  make  good  and  enter  in  full 
connection  at  the  end  of  the  probation.  Now, 
Brother  Thickstun,  I  want  you  to  pray  for  me, 
that  I  may  hold  out  faithful.55  After  prayer,  the 
minister  told  him  that  he  had  ascertained  that 
some  roystering  mischief-makers  had  egged  him 
on  to  the  deed.  He  responded: 

"Of  course,  the  devil  put  it  into  their  fool 
heads,  but  that  was  one  time  that  the  old  rascal 
overreached  himself.  Fact  is,  I  was  thinking  of 
joining  the  church  yesterday,  before  I  went  to 
drinking.  I  thought  maybe  the  drink  would 
drown  the  feeling.  But  God  overruled  the  liquor 
for  the  good  of  my  soul.  But  I  haven’t  got  re¬ 
ligion,  Brother  Thickstun;  what  about  that?55 

"I  have  no  doubt  that  you  will  have  religion 


200  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

very  shortly.  Your  mother  knows  how  to  direct 
you  to  the  Lamb  of  God.  Meantime,  if  you 
desire  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come,  and  to  be 
saved  from  your  sins,  that  is  all  we  require  of 
you  as  a  probationer.” 

At  the  experience  meeting  that  night,  John 
Hogan  said: 

“They  tell  me  that  I  joined  the  church  last 
night  when  I  was  drunk.  I  guess  that  some  smart 
Alecks  persuaded  me  to  do  it.  Maybe  you  are 
here  to-night;  if  so,  I  wish  to  say  that  you  never 
did  a  better  thing  in  your  lives,  although  you 
intended  it  for  a  desecration  of  God’s  house.  I 
intend  to  stick  to  the  thing  I  did  last  night,  as 
long  as  God  gives  me  breath.  I  am  not  satisfied 
in  my  mind  about  the  condition  of  my  soul,  but 
I  intend  to  go  to  the  mourner’s  bench  when  the 
call  shall  be  made.  It  will  be  a  good  thing  if 
the  fellows  who  put  me  up  to  that  mischief  will 
come  up  here  and  kneel  with  me.” 

John  Hogan  was  converted  that  night.  But 
those  who  were  responsible  for  his  act  were  never 
definitely  located.  Hogan  and  his  mother  moved 
away  soon  afterwards,  and  Mr.  Thickstun  got  out 
of  touch  with  them,  but  he  always  felt  sure  that 
John  had  the  stamina  to  stand  firm  in  the  resolu¬ 
tion  he  had  formed  when  he  learned  that  he  had 
joined  the  church  while  drunk. 


XI:  “HERE  I  AM,  MOTHER” 


The  salvation  of  a  human  soul ,  no  mat¬ 
ter  how  poor  and  unworthy  that  soul  may 
be,  is  the  greatest  event  that  ever  transpires 
in  this  old  world  of  ours .  So  far  as  we 
have  information  in  the  Scriptures,  this  is 
the  only  event  that  moves  heaven  with  joy. 
...  We  know  from  the  words  of  Jesus 
that  when  one  single ,  lost,  needy,  suffering, 
sin-cursed,  habit-bound  man  or  woman  turns 
to  Christ,  heaven  is  moved  with  joy,  and  the 
celestial  choirs  seize  their  harps  and  sing  a 
new  song  before  the  throne. 

Polemus  H.  Swift. 


XI 


“Here  I  Am,  Mother 99 

In  1885  I  was  in  one  of  the  Ohio  River 
counties  of  western  Kentucky,  and  for  some 
weeks  stopped  at  a  hotel  where  a  young  civil 
engineer  had  headquarters.  Harry  Gendren  was 
one  of  those  mellow,  open  natures  who  have 
popularity  for  a  birthright,  and  was  soon  a  favor¬ 
ite  in  the  town  and  hotel. 

Harry  liked  to  come  to  my  room  to  sing.  His 
voice  was  a  deep  bass;  my  roommate,  Manis, 
sang  a  part  which  I  have  never  been  musician 
enough  to  name;  Harry’s  roommate,  Jervis,  sang 
a  rich  tenor;  I  tried  to  carry  the  air. 

We  sang  “Suwanee  River,”  “Old  Kentucky 
Home,”  and  such  pieces  occasionally,  but  the  old 
hymn  tunes  were  best  adapted  to  our  style  of 
quartet,  and  I  am  obliged  to  say  that  we  made 
some  good  music  on  “Old  Hundred,”  “Sessions,” 
“Coronation,”  and  like  pieces. 

On  one  occasion  we  sang,  “Where  Is  My  Boy 
.To-night*?”  and  at  its  conclusion  Harry  said: 

“If  you  care  to  hear  the  story,  I  will  tell  you 
where  I  first  heard  that  song.” 

“Tell  it,  by  all  means,”  chorused  the  rest  of  us. 

203 


204  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

“I  must  begin  by  saying  that  until  recently  I 
was  a  pretty  reckless  chap.  My  father  has  always 
been  a  railroad  prospector  and  surveyor,  and  I 
have  been  with  him  in  camp  ever  since  I  was  a 
mere  kid.  He  is  a  good  man,  the  leader  of  a 
choir  in  Evettsburg,  where  my  mother  frequently 
sings  solos.  I  never  hope  to  hear  anything  this 
side  of  the  Glory  Gates  that  will  satisfy  me  as 
well  as  my  mother’s  voice  in  the  First  Cumber¬ 
land  Church  at  Evettsburg. 

“Father  was  not  careful  enough  about  my  com¬ 
panions  in  camp,  and  soon  I  had  drifted  a  long 
way  from  the  right.  But  I  learned  his  business, 
and  when  I  was  about  eighteen  years  of  age,  he 
put  me  to  work  on  one  of  his  jobs.  The  pay  was 
not  large,  but  it  was  nearly  clear  money,  and  I 
was  too  young  to  understand  the  proper  disposal 
of  so  much. 

“I  fell  into  the  habit  of  spreeing  when  I  went 
to  Evettsburg,  or  when  father  was  not  in  camp. 
I  managed  to  conceal  the  most  of  my  bad  conduct 
from  him,  while  mother  never  suspected  my  wild 
ways,  although  her  pastor  and  half  of  the  con¬ 
gregation  were  well  acquainted  with  my  short¬ 
comings. 

“Well,  when  I  was  about  twenty,  we  reached 
a  point  in  a  job  where  we  had  been  two  weeks 
in  the  rain  and  mud.  We  got  to  the  end  of  a 
section  one  Thursday  noon.  Father  said  that  we 


205 


“HERE  I  AM,  MOTHER” 

would  have  to  lay  off  until  the  next  Monday 
morning,  because  his  plans  for  the  next  section 
were  not  matured.  I  determined  then  and  there 
to  put  in  the  best  part  of  the  next  three  days  in 
Evettsburg,  on  a  great  old  jamboree. 

“I  walked  back  to  the  terminus,  and  the  two 
o’clock  freight  bumped  and  banged  me  forty 
miles  to  Evettsburg.  Here  I  disappeared  in  a 
saloon  down  town,  and  was  soon  oblivious  to 
surrounding  events.  The  saloon  keeper  was  care¬ 
ful  that  my  whereabouts  should  be  kept  quiet, 
and  bundled  me  into  his  own  living  rooms  when 
I  became  unable  to  take  care  of  myself.  Father 
stayed  at  his  job,  preparing  the  next  week’s 
work,  until  Saturday  afternoon,  when  he  went 
to  Evettsburg,  to  be  present  with  his  choir,  at 
seven  in  the  evening.  His  train  was  delayed,  so 
he  went  directly  from  the  station  to  the  church. 
By  a  strange  destiny,  it  seemed,  mother  was 
selected  to  sing  Where  Is  My  Boy  To-night*?’  for 
the  evening  service. 

“On  the  way  home,  father  asked  for  me,  and 
mother  replied  that  she  had  not  seen  me.  They 
both  became  very  uneasy;  father  with  an  inkling 
of  the  truth;  mother  with  all  sorts  of  nameless 
dreads.  As  I  did  not  turn  up  that  night,  father 
started  a  private  policeman  on  a  search  for  me 
next  morning  before  breakfast.  He  unearthed 
me,  got  me  to  a  hotel,  and  feed  a  servant  to  sober 


206  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

4 

me  up.  The  policeman  then  went  to  report,  but 
as  my  father  was  not  at  home,  the  whole  miser¬ 
able  truth  came  out  to  my  mother.  He  said  to 
her,  as  he  was  leaving : 

“  ‘Mrs.  Gendren,  I  would  advise  you  not  to 
go  to  Harry  to-day.  He  will  be  all  right  to¬ 
morrow  morning,  and  you  can  see  him  before  he 
starts  back  to  camp.  You  would  only  be  need¬ 
lessly  distressed  at  what  you  would  see  to-day, 
and  you  can  do  him  no  good  now.  If  possible,  I 
shall  have  him  at  home  to-night  after  supper.’ 

“Mother  promised  that  she  would  not  try  to 
see  me  until  I  was  sober,  and  went  to  the  morn¬ 
ing  service.  Father  came  to  me  early  in  the  after¬ 
noon,  but  I  was  sleeping  heavily,  and  he  thought 
it  best  not  to  disturb  me.  When  I  awoke,  about 
five  o’clock  in  the  afternoon,  I  was  duly  sober, 
but  had  a  raging  headache.  When  I  learned  that 
it  was  Sunday,  I  knew  that  my  spree  was  at  an 
end,  so  I  called  for  a  cup  of  strong  coffee.  While 
drinking  it,  I  heard  from  the  policeman  that 
mother  knew  everything. 

“I  was  terribly  cut  up  about  it,  and  my 
mother’s  sorrow-laden  face  arose  before  me  with 
great  distinctness  as  I  sat  on  the  edge  of  that 
hotel  bed.  What  with  that  face  and  my  con¬ 
science,  you  can  easily  believe  that  the  next  few 
hours  were  simply  awful.  Then  the  church  bell 
rang,  and  at  the  sound  I  aroused  myself  and  said : 


207 


“HERE  I  AM,  MOTHER” 

“  ‘Mason,  I’m  going  to  church.’ 

“  ‘Where  at,  Harry?’ 

“  cAt  the  First  Cumberland.’ 

“  ‘You  are  in  pretty  rough  shape  for  church.’ 

“  ‘Yes,  but  I  haven’t  time  to  go  home  and  put 
on  more  suitable  clothes.  I  shall  sit  under  the 
gallery,  behind  a  column,  and  will  not  be  noticed. 
You  must  go  with  me  to  steer  me  past  the  rum 
shops,  for  it  is  very  important  that  I  keep 
straight,  as  I  have  to  go  to  work  again,  to¬ 
morrow.’  Mason  smiled,  but  answered  that  he 
would  go  with  me. 

“I  was  wearing  my  corduroy  surveying  togs 
and  a  wool  shirt.  The  servant  brushed  me  up, 
Hut  I  must  have  looked  pretty  rough  when  Mason 
and  I  slipped  quietly  into  a  side  entrance,  and 
took  seats  in  a  secluded  corner,  near  the  pulpit 
and  choir.  I  was  greatly  agitated  by  entirely 
new  sensations,  and  felt  that  a  critical  point  in 
my  career  was  at  hand. 

“There  were  very  few  in  the  room  when  I 
entered,  but  in  twenty  minutes  the  great  audi¬ 
torium  was  packed,  for  Dr.  Darby  was  then  in 
the  height  of  his  popularity,  and  drew  im¬ 
mensely. 

“After  the  opening  prayer,  my  mother  arose  to 
sing  her  solo.  This  had  been  my  principal  reason 
for  attending,  but  I  had  no  idea  of  what  she  was 
going  to  sing.  She  had  sung  it  a  time  or  two, 


208  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

and  it  was  now  by  request  of  several  that  she 
was  to  sing  it  again.  If  possible,  she  would  have 
avoided  it,  after  the  morning’s  developments,  but 
she  had  been  announced  in  all  the  papers,  and 
nothing  else  had  been  rehearsed,  so  she  must,  per¬ 
force,  sing  what  lacerated  her  soul  at  every  word. 
As  I  have  already  told  you,  it  was  the  first  time 
I  had  ever  heard  it. 

“At  the  first  line,  ‘Where  is  my  wandering 
boy  to-night  the  audience  was  wonderfully 
affected.  Mother  did  not  dream  that  I  was  pres¬ 
ent,  but  supposed  that  I  was  yet  in  the  hotel.  All 
her  gentle,  patient,  loving  nature  stood  revealed 
in  the  painful  moan  of  those  first  words.  Oh, 
how  I  hated  myself  for  making  it  possible  that 
she  should  sing  those  words  from  the  heart.  I 
dropped  my  head  in  my  hands,  and  rocked  like 
a  tree  shaken  by  the  wind. 

“Every  word  sank  deeper  and  deeper  into  my 
soul.  I  began  to  pray.  I  asked  God  to  forgive 
me  for  bruising  that  tender,  loving  mother’s 
heart.  I  called  myself  an  ingrate,  a  matricide, 
for  my  incoherent  brain  got  the  impression  from 
her  tones  that  she  was  dying.  The  refrain, 
peculiarly  composed,  as  you  know,  gives  the 
impression  of  a  wail,  and  when  she  reached  it 
the  second  time,  I  thought  that  I  should  shriek 
aloud.  Then  I  remembered  that  I  had  sinned, 
not  only  against  my  mother,  but  against  my  God. 


“here  I  AM,  mother”  209 

I  asked  his  pardon  in  a  frenzy,  and  received  it 
just  as  she  reached  the  last  stanza: 

“  ‘Go  for  my  wandering  boy  to-night ; 

Go  search  for  him  where  you  will ; 

But  bring  him  to  me  with  all  his  blight, 

I’ll  tell  him  I  love  him  still.’ 

“Then  came  the  refrain: 

“  ‘O  where  is  my  boy  to-night; 

O  where  is  my  boy  to-night?’ 

“When  she  sang  that  second  ‘where’  with  all 
the  emphasis  that  her  genius,  her  longing,  her 
mother  heart  could  give  it,  the  agony  of  her  soul 
seemed  so  great,  that  it  irresistibly  drew  me  to 
my  feet,  and  I  walked  up  the  aisle  toward  her, 
with  my  arms  outstretched.  Further  words  died 
on  her  lips.  The  organist  ceased  playing,  and 
in  wondering  surprise  turned  to  look  at  my 
mother*  For  the  briefest  moment  silence  reigned; 
then  I  sobbed  like  any  child : 

“  ‘Here  I  am,  mother.’ 

“A  carefully  studied  melodrama  could  not 
have  been  better  acted.  Mother  came  hastily 
down  the  choir  steps  and  folded  me  in  her  arms. 
Dr.  Darby  seized  one  hand,  and  father  took  the 
other.  The  organist  gave  the  chords  of  ‘Old 
Hundred,’  and  almost  as  one  voice  the  congre¬ 
gation  burst  into  the  doxology,  ‘Praise  God,  from 


210  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

whom  all  blessings  flow,’  and  I  think  that  they 
must  have  sung  it  a  dozen  times  while  they  were 
shaking  hands  with  me. 

“All  that  was  more  than  two  years  ago.  I 
date  a  different  life  from  that  night.” 

“But  you  never  heard  the  song  again  under 
quite  such  dramatic  circumstances,  Harry4?” 

“I  am  not  so  sure  about  that.  I  heard  my  own 
words  to  my  mother  repeated  under  vastly  dif¬ 
ferent  circumstances,  though  perhaps  you  will  say 
that  they  were  as  remarkable  as  what  I  have  just 
related. 

“Last  summer  I  was  making  a  'horseback  sur¬ 
vey'  in  southeastern  Kentucky.  A  local  preacher 
by  the  name  of  Logan  was  guiding  me,  and  I  was 
to  stay  at  his  house  one  night. 

“Several  days  previous  he  had  come  upon  a 
party  of  gamblers  in  the  woods.  His  son, 
Thomas,  was  one  of  the  number,  but  he  had  im¬ 
partially  reported  all  of  them  to  the  Grand  Jury; 
they  had  heard  of  it,  and  had  been  in  hiding  ever 
since.  With  Spartan-like  determination,  he  had 
resolved  that  his  son  should  suffer  with  the  rest, 
but  his  wife  was  deeply  grieved  at  the  circum¬ 
stance,  and  felt  indignant  that  a  father  should 
immolate  a  son  in  such  a  way. 

“I  knew  nothing  of  these  facts  when  Mr.  Logan 
and  I  reached  his  house.  I  could  see  that  all 


“here  I  AM,  mother”  211 

relations  were  not  thoroughly  cordial,  but  could 
not  surmise  the  disturbing  cause. 

“After  supper,  we  sat  in  the  soft  June  moon¬ 
light,  and  Mr.  Logan  asked  me  to  sing.  Mrs. 
Logan  was  sitting  farthest  out  in  the  yard,  near 
the  'office,5  as  the  boys5  building  in  some  South¬ 
ern  front  yards  is  called. 

“After  several  other  pieces,  I  thought  of 
'Where  Is  My  Boy  To-night?5  My  mind  re¬ 
verted  to  that  blessed  Sunday  night  in  Evetts- 
burg.  My  mother’s  longing  seemed  to  fill  my  own 
soul,  so  that  the  singing  was  particularly  expres¬ 
sive.  We  were  in  a  'cove,5  where  rocky  precipices 
hung  near,  and  my  words  seemed  to  climb  the 
cliffs  and  enter  all  their  gloomy  crevices  and  cav¬ 
erns  with  the  wild,  despairing  query  of  the  weird 
refrain.  I  don’t  think  that  I  was  'stuck  on  my 
own  voice,’  but  I  could  not  help  knowing  that  I 
was  singing  well,  and  I  felt  a  fine  exhilaration 
in  the  surroundings. 

“Mr.  and  Mrs.  Logan  were  facing  me,  and 
did  not  see  what  I  saw,  when  I  started  on  the 
last  stanza.  A  young  man  walked  from  the 
shadow  of  the  fir  tree  to  the  office.  He  lifted 
his  finger  in  warning  to  me,  so  I  proceeded  with 
the  singing  as  though  nothing  had  happened,  but 
I  watched  him  narrowly,  though  I  could  not  be¬ 
lieve  that  he  meant  harm  while  acting  so  openly. 


212  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

He  stood  still  in  the  shadow  of  the  office  until 
I  finished. 

“There  was  silence  for  a  moment,  then  Mrs. 
Logan  rose  in  a  bewildered  way,  tossed  her  arms 
wildly,  and  moaned,  not  loud,  but  with  search¬ 
ing,  penetrating  force: 

''  'Oh,  where  is  my  boy  to-night4?5  The  figure 
in  the  shadow  cried  aloud  the  words: 

''  'Here  I  am,  mother.5 

“She  turned  as  Logan  and  I  sprang  to  our  feet. 

“  'Tommy,  Tommy,5  she  murmured,  as  the 
strong  young  fellow  caught  her  in  a  filial  em¬ 
brace.  Logan  said,  as  severely  as  possible: 

“  'Young  man,  are  you  aware  that  you  are 
wanted  by  the  Grand  Jury4?5  55 

“  ‘Yes,  father,  but  the  song  that  I  have  just 
heard  and  mother’s  heartbroken  wail  have  de¬ 
termined  me  to  stand  my  trial  and  pay  the 
penalty  like  a  man.  I  was  skulking  near  the 
house  in  order  to  get  provisions  to  keep  me  until 
after  court  would  adjourn.  Now,  I  shall  stay 
here  to-night,  and  to-morrow  I  shall  go  to  town 
and  plead  guilty.  Then  I  shall  never  gamble 
again,  please  God.5 

''  'Amen!5  said  the  father.  The  son  added: 

“  'Mother,  you  will  never  again  have  to  ask, 
“Where  is  my  boy  to-night4?55  as  miserably  as  you 
asked  it  to-night  !5  55 


XII:  SOME  OF  ELIJAH’S 
AFTERMATHS 


\ 


XII 


Some  of  Elijah's  Aftermaths 

I  have  already  related  how  John  Hoagland 
was  converted  ten  years  after  a  conversation 
with  Elijah  which  was  never  effaced  from  John's 
memory,  and  which  led  directly  to  his  salvation. 
Elijah  thinks  that  that  was  the  most  remarkable 
of  his  aftermaths.  But  he  had  a  regular  system 
of  follow-up  work  with  all  who  came  under  his 
influence.  Numerous  are  the  instances  of  good 
work  for  souls  that  he  did  at  a  distance  and  aftef 
lapses  of  time.  I  shall  relate  only  two  such  cases. 

Among  his  friends  at  El  rick  were  Mrs.  Jane 
Short  and  her  son  Oliver.  Mrs.  Short  was  un¬ 
happily  mated  with  a  drunken  libertine  who  mis¬ 
treated  her  and  Oliver.  His  infidelities  to  his 
wife  were  common  fame,  but  she  clung  to  him  a 
long  time  after  she  was  convinced  that  he  was 
untrue.  But  his  treatment  of  Oliver  finally  com¬ 
pelled  her  to  seek  the  protection  of  the  law.  She 
went  to  the  minister  about  it,  and  he  advised  her 
to  separate  from  Short  for  the  Scriptural  reason. 
She  disliked  the  reflection  this  would  cast  on 
Oliver’s  future,  but  finally  came  to  the  decision 

after  an  exceptionally  cruel  beating  that  Short 

215 


216  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

gave  the  boy.  He  had  often  beaten  her  without 
causing  a  separation.  She  was  shortly  granted  a 
decree,  and  decided  to  move  from  South  Dakota 
to  Minnesota.  After  all  was  ready,  she  and 
Oliver  spent  the  last  night  in  Elrick  at  the  par¬ 
sonage,  where  Mrs.  Short  was  on  exceptional 
terms  with  Mrs.  Green.  At  family  prayers  that 
night,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Green  talked  for  a  long  time 
about  the  mother  and  son  joining  the  church 
before  they  changed  homes.  Elijah  said: 

“Mrs.  Short,  you  can  scarcely  estimate  the 
advantage  a  church  letter  will  be  to  you  in  Min¬ 
nesota.” 

“But  I  am  all  ready  to  leave  to-morrow.” 

“I  will  go  out,  gather  in  a  few  neighbors,  and 
we  will  have  a  little  meeting  here.  I  can  open 
the  doors  of  the  church,  and  you  can  both  join. 
Then  I  can  give  both  of  you  letters  to  the  pastor 
of  the  church  in  the  town  where  you  are  going, 
and  he  will  complete  your  probation  on  his 
charge  and  receive  you  into  full  connection.” 

“All  right,  I  believe  that  I  will  do  it.  What 
do  you  say,  Oliver?” 

“I  don’t  want  to.” 

“Why,  Oliver,  you  wanted  to  join  the  church 
with  me  last  year.  I  am  sorry  that  I  didn’t  join 
then.” 

“Mother,  I  have  such  bitter  feelings  toward  fa¬ 
ther  that  it  will  be  hypocritical  for  me  to  join  the 


some  of  Elijah's  aftermaths  217 

church  now.  Let  us  wait  until  I  have  a  chance 
to  pray  over  the  matter,  and  get  back  to  where 
I  was  last  year.” 

“Very  well,  we  had  better  wait,  I  guess.”  The 
minister  interposed: 

“We  can  have  the  meeting  as  I  proposed  to¬ 
night,  and  you  can  join,  Mrs.  Short,  even  though 
Oliver  prefers  to  wait.” 

“No;  Oliver  wouldn't  go  in  last  year  without 
me;  I  won't  go  in  now  without  him.” 

There  is  where,  perforce,  the  matter  rested. 
Elijah  secured  the  promise  from  both  that  they 
would  not  let  the  matter  drop.  But  he  under¬ 
stood  the  thousand  and  one  hindrances  that 
would  stand  in  their  way  after  removal.  So  he 
wrote  a  full  account  of  their  case  to  the  Meth¬ 
odist  minister  in  their  new  home.  He  asked  it  as 
a  personal  favor  that  the  brother  minister  would 
hunt  the  pair  up,  and  get  them  on  salvable 
ground,  and  into  the  church.  At  the  same  time 
he  wrote  the  Shorts  frequently  and  kept  their 
duty  constantly  before  them.  Fortunately  the 
minister  in  their  new  home  took  a  deep  interest 
in  the  case,  and  he  diligently  worked  the  ground 
in  the  soil  of  their  hearts  which  Green  had 
prepared.  And  his  labor  bore  fruit.  One  day 
Oliver  said: 

“Mother,  Mr.  Harris  keeps  after  a  fellow  just 
like  Mr.  Green  used  to,  at  Elrick.” 


218  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

“I  was  thinking  the  same  thing.  Have  you 
forgotten  our  promise  to  Mr.  Green?” 

“No;  but  I  believe  that  I  would  have  forgotten 
it,  if  it  were  not  for  Mr.  Harris  so  everlastingly 
keeping  after  us.” 

“How  do  you  feel  toward  your  father  by 
now?” 

“I  don’t  hate  him  any  more.” 

“Then,  what’s  the  matter  with  us  joining  the 
church  next  Sunday?” 

“Nothing  is  the  matter  with  it.” 

“All  right;  that’s  what  we’ll  do.” 

The  latter  part  of  the  next  week,  Elijah  re¬ 
ceived  three  letters:  one  from  the  minister,  one 
from  Mrs.  Short,  one  from  Oliver.  They  all  told 
the  same  happy  story.  The  last  paragraph  of 
the  minister’s  letter  read: 

“I  have  become  deeply  interested  in  this  case, 
because  you  seemed  to  care  so  much  about  it.  I 
wanted  success  nearly  entirely  on  your  account. 
I  read  the  parable  of  the  Good  Shepherd  and  the 
sheep.  You  certainly  loved  your  sheep,  and  you 
are  certainly  a  good  shepherd.” 

On  one  of  Elijah’s  works,  there  was  a  strong 
opposition  to  evangelistic  meetings.  He  found, 
indeed,  that  this  opposition  was  almost  organ¬ 
ized.  Anyhow,  he  was  obliged  to  forego  a  re¬ 
vival  series  of  meetings,  on  account  of  this  bitter 


some  of  Elijah’s  aftermaths  219 

feeling  against  it.  But  he  put  in  the  year  in  the 
pulpit  by  giving  the  people  the  most  trenchant 
preaching  he  knew.  In  his  pastoral  visitation,  he 
urged  a  revival  right  down  to  the  farewell  visits. 
He  had  fifty  people  in  the  little  county  seat  on 
his  prayer  list.  The  man  who  followed  him  saw 
the  necessity  for  an  upheaval  and  took  up  the 
work  just  where  Elijah  had  left  off.  By  the 
middle  of  Lent,  a  committee  asked  the  new  pas¬ 
tor  to  send  for  an  evangelist.  One  of  these  said : 

“Brother  Pinchot,  I  frequently  said  last  year 
that  I  would  never  hear  Brother  Green  preach 
again;  but  I  always  went  back.  I  have  often  said 
the  same  thing  of  you.  There  is  something  in 
Christianity  deeper  and  more  vital  than  I  enjoy, 
and  I  am  not  going  to  try  to  do  with  what  I  have 
any  longer.” 

The  evangelist  was  secured,  and  a  few  days 
after  Easter,  Elijah  Green  received  the  following 
letter  from  Pinchot: 

“Hosmer,  Neb.,  April  30,  1915. 
“Dear  Brother  Green  : 

“I  received  your  letters  asking  about  conditions  here, 
but  have  delayed  answering  because  I  felt  like  I  wanted 
something  to  report  before  I  would  write. 

“I  have  been  moved  to  write  you  a  number  of  times, 
but  did  not  follow  the  impulse  as  I  ought  to  have  done. 
It  has  always  seemed  to  me  a  cold-blooded  thing  for  a 
minister  to  follow  where  another  has  sweat  blood,  as  it 


220  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

were,  and  never  so  much  as  write  and  say:  ‘Brother,  I 
am  finding  your  bloody  footprints  here.’ 

“Well,  I  want  to  tell  you  that  your  time  in  tiding 
this  work  along  was  by  no  means  thrown  away.  It  is 
no  small  thing  that  one  who  follows  you  finds  every¬ 
where  a  thoroughgoing  respect  for  you,  and  not  any¬ 
where  a  bad  taste  in  any  one’s  mouth. 

“I  am  very  sure  that  the  first  splendid  outcome  of  my 
time  here  is,  in  no  small  degree,  due  to  your  faithfulness, 
and  the  wholesome  conditions  you  left  for  me  to  work 
from. 

“Thirty-six  were  added  to  our  membership  on  Easter 
Sunday.  Your  latest  revision  of  the  roll  left  twenty- 
two,  to  which  we  add  the  thirty-six,  making  fifty-eight 
in  all,  and  more  to  follow  right  away  soon.  I  can  see 
a  large  work  coming  on,  and  yours  shall  always  be  a 
worthy  share  in  it. 

“Very  cordially  yours, 

“Pierre  Pinchot.” 

In  Elijah’s  reply  to  this  letter,  among  other 
things,  he  wrote: 

“I  am  deeply  grateful  for  the  victory  at  Hosmer.  I 
would  have  been  intensely  chagrined  at  any  other  kind 
of  a  report.  God  bless  you  and  all  of  the  Hosmer  people. 

“Lovingly, 


“Elijah  Green.” 


XIII:  CONCLUSION 


XIII 


Conclusion 

I  suppose  that  I  owe  it  to  the  reader  not  to 
close  until  I  have  said  something  about  Elijah 
Green’s  reception  of  the  foregoing  pages  of  this 
book.  I  have  tried  not  to  lionize  him,  but  he  was 
not  pleased  with  some  of  the  passages  where  he 
felt  that  I  had  been  more  flattering  than  he  de¬ 
served.  Very  gravely,  he  remarked  to  me: 

“You  see,  Ed,  I  am  just  a  plain  plug  of  a 
country  parson.  I  am  not  posing  for  the  hero  of 
a  book.  These  things  which  you  have  told  about 
me,  with  slight  variations,  might  have  been 
written  about  a  dozen  or  twenty  other  ministers 
of  my  acquaintance.” 

“I  presume  so,  Elijah,  but  you  must  realize 
that  you  are  the  one  minister  whom  I  have  known 
intimately  enough  to  write  up.  I  think  that  the 
Preface  shows  that  any  minister  will  have  one  or 
more  experiences  with  which  to  match  the  ones 
in  this  book.” 

“Maybe  that’s  so.  But  I  feel  that  my  brethren 
need  a  warning  on  some  of  the  things  in  my  min¬ 
isterial  career.  Most  of  all,  I  do  not  consider  the 

223 


224  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

little  private  fortune  which  I  possess  an  advan¬ 
tage  in  my  life  work.  I  sometimes  feel  that  it 
has  been  a  disadvantage  to  me.”  I  must  have 
stared  incredulously  at  my  old  intimate  as  I 
replied : 

“Do  you  mean  to  say  that  that  thousand  dol¬ 
lars  a  year,  independent  of  your  ministerial 
salary,  has  injured  you  in  any  way4?” 

“I  have  so  considered  it  several  times  in  my 
life.  More  than  once,  it  has  leaked  out  into  my 
parish  that  my  private  means  wrould  support  me, 
and  those  who  would  otherwise  have  contributed 
liberally  quietly  lay  down  in  the  traces.  They 
could  not  know,  seemingly,  that  they  were  miss¬ 
ing  a  blessing  by  withholding  their  contributions 
from  the  budget.  I  have  always  strictly  tithed 
the  income  from  my  capital  at  the  beginning  of 
the  year;  then,  when  my  Conference  year  is  up, 
I  tithe  my  ministerial  salary.  I  always  had  some 
pet  project  or  other  to  build  up,  and  these 
schemes  have  often  suffered  by  a  slump  in  my 
salary,  on  which  I  had  not  counted.  Jesus  had 
such  cases  as  mine  especially  in  view,  when  he 
commanded  his  disciples  not  to  take  anything  in 
their  purses.  When  he  said  that  the  laborer  is 
worthy  of  his  hire,  he  undoubtedly  meant  that 
the  Gospel  ought  to  support  its  servants.” 

“I  shall  not  dispute  your  word,  but  it  sounds 
far-fetched.” 


CONCLUSION 


225 


‘‘Nevertheless,  it  is  a  very  real  thing.  I  have 
been  obliged  to  move  entirely  out  of  an  Annual 
Conference,  not  to  say  away  from  a  charge,  sev¬ 
eral  times,  merely  because  folks  leaned  on  me. 
My  means  have  crippled  the  financial  efficiency 
of  a  charge  in  exactly  the  same  way  that  State 
aid  to  the  church  injures  it.  We  see  this  in  the 
State-aided  ecclesiastical  systems  of  Spain,  Rus¬ 
sia,  Germany,  England.  I  have  in  my  mind  a 
little  concrete  instance  of  the  working  of  such  a 
system.  In  my  younger  days,  I  knew  of  a  little 
Episcopal  church  in  southern  Indiana  which  was 
endowed  by  a  wealthy  lady.  She  contributed 
$1,000  a  year  to  the  support  of  the  minister. 
The  parish  had  only  to  keep  up  insurance,  fuel, 
light,  janitor,  organist.  But  it  was  a  constant 
grind  for  them  to  do  that.  There  was  a  little 
Methodist  parish  right  by  the  side  of  this  Church 
of  the  Holy  Innocents,  which  was  not  as  wealthy 
as  the  Episcopal  organization.  This  Methodist 
chapel  paid  $800  to  its  pastor  and  kept  up 
heavier  incidental  and  benevolent  charges  than 
its  more  pretentious  neighbor.  The  rector  of 
the  Holy  Innocents  and  I  grew  intimate.  He 
told  me  that  he  had  entered  upon  the  ministry  of 
that  church  with  buoyant  hopes.  With  his  salary 
out  of  the  financial  pathway,  there  seemed  noth¬ 
ing  for  him  to  do  but  to  build  up  the  Kingdom. 
But  the  harder  he  worked,  the  less  he  seemed  to 


226  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

accomplish.  He  was  a  brilliant,  cultured  man, 
who  could  make  and  preach  good  sermons,  but  he 
accomplished  nothing.  I  attended  a  service  one 
October  evening.  The  audience  consisted  of  the 
choir,  the  organist,  the  janitor,  three  genteel  old 
ladies,  two  extra  genteel  old  gentlemen,  a  discon¬ 
solate  little  girl,  and  myself.  We  had  a  fine  ser¬ 
mon.  He  had  asked  me  to  come  into  the  vestry 
at  the  close  of  the  service,  and  I  did  so.  While 
he  was  disrobing,  he  said: 

"  'Mr.  Green,  let  us  go  to  Talf air’s  church  on 
Angle  Street.  It  will  not  close  for  a  half-hour.’ 

"When  we  got  out  on  the  street,  we  could  hear 
Talfair  preaching  a  block  away.  Dr.  Cole  said: 

"  'Talfair  takes  his  missionary  collection  to¬ 
night.  I  often  drop  in  on  him  after  my  service 
is  out.  He  is  achieving  ten  times  the  results  that 
I  can  report.  I  want  you  to  see  him  in  action  on 
the  same  night  you  see  me.  After  his  service,  we 
are  all  three  going  to  my  study  for  a  little  talk.’ 

"Talfair  closed  very  shortly  after  we  got  into 
the  church.  He  called  for  a  collection  and  re¬ 
ceived  over  $50  from  the  audience  which  crowded 
the  house.  Some  of  Dr.  Cole’s  people  were  there, 
he  told  me.  After  the  service,  it  was  only  a  short 
time  until  we  were  in  Dr.  Cole’s  study.  Talfair 
immediately  asked : 

"  'How  did  you  come  out  to-night,  Brother 
Cole?’ 


CONCLUSION 


227, 


''  'Ask  Mr.  Green,’  wearily  replied  Cole. 

"I  saw  that  this  Episcopalian  rector  and 
Methodist  preacher  were  on  good  terms,  but  it 
was  difficult  for  me  to  say  what  was  in  my  mind. 
Dr.  Cole  came  to  my  rescue  with: 

“  'Go  ahead,  Mr.  Green;  tell  Mr.  Talfair  just 
what  you  saw  at  the  Holy  Innocents.’ 

''  'Well,  I  saw  a  choir  faultlessly  surpliced;  I 
heard  an  exquisite  voluntary  solo  by  Mrs.  Sil¬ 
vers;  I  heard  a  thoughtful  sermon  delivered  with 
flawless  diction.’ 

"  'What  about  the  audience?’  mercilessly  in¬ 
quired  Dr.  Cole. 

"  'Well,  outside  of  the  choir,  the  audience  con¬ 
sisted  of  eight  people,  counting  myself  and  the 
janitor.’ 

"  'There  you  are!’  exclaimed  Cole  to  Talfair, 
resignedly.  Talfair  turned  to  me,  and  very 
gently  remarked: 

"  'Dr.  Cole  is  pretty  well  discouraged  with  the 
outcome  of  his  labors  in  his  own  vineyard.  We 
have  had  a  good  many  heart-to-heart  talks  on  the 
subject.  I  know  that  Dr.  Cole  can  preach  all 
around  me.  His  parish  actually  numbers  more 
souls  and  possesses  more  wealth  than  mine,  yet 
the  contributions  from  my  people  actually  ex¬ 
ceed  the  apportionment.  Dr.  Cole  has  his  theory; 
maybe  he  wants  to  tell  it.’  I  interposed: 


228  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

“  'Possibly  Dr.  Cole  spends  too  much  time  in 
study  and  does  not  visit  his  people  enough.’ 

“  'He  actually  makes  more  pastoral  calls  than 
I  do,’  rejoined  Talfair. 

“  'Yes,  we  have  looked  at  it  from  every  angle,’ 
said  Cole.  'And  I  have  concluded  that  it  is  the 
result  of  our  endowed  salary.  It  is  a  positive 
hindrance  to  our  work.  But  you  couldn’t  con¬ 
vince  our  vestry  of  that  fact.  I  determined  to¬ 
night,  before  I  started  to  preach,  that  I  will  not 
serve  the  Holy  Innocents  another  year.’  And  he 
made  his  word  good.  He  went  to  a  little  church 
that  was  in  debt,  as  soon  as  his  year  was  out. 
They  paid  all  expenses,  met  all  benevolent 
claims,  paid  him  his  $800.00,  and  retired  their 
debt.” 

“Then  it  is  a  blessing  for  a  parish  to  be  in  a 
constant  strain  to  meet  financial  obligations'?” 

“Sounds  paradoxical,  doesn’t  it*?  But  I  be¬ 
lieve  that  it  is  often  true.” 

“Very  well;  now  tell  me  of  anything  else  in 
the  book  that  you  don’t  like.” 

“Let  me  tell  you  of  something  I  do  like.  That 
is  your  style  of  relating  the  experiences  of  the 
converts  in  your  book.  Modern  writers  of  evan¬ 
gelical  experiences  have  a  way  of  searching  for 
unusual  nomenclature.  I  like  the  old  words, 
'penitence,’  'conviction,’  'conversion.’  It  ought 
to  be  made  easy  for  one  to  find  Christ,  on  account 


CONCLUSION 


229 


of  the  language  of  those  who  are  pointing  out 
the  road.  Whenever  I  am  inquiring  the  road  to 
any  place,  it  makes  me  tired  for  one  to  palaver 
while  directing  me.  Plain  simplicity  is  the  sys¬ 
tem  for  me.” 

“Have  you  anything,  Elijah,  that  you  would 
like  to  say  on  the  modus  operandi  of  conver¬ 
sion?” 

“I  think  that  the  entire  book  is  an  attempt  to 
show  several  of  the  different  ways  in  which  peo¬ 
ple  have  found  Christ.  The  thing  for  every  one 
who  has  an  evangelical  experience  to  remember 
is,  that  the  particular  manner,  or  place,  or  time, 
or  system,  or  lack  of  system  of  the  event  must 
not  be  set  up  by  himself  as  the  way  for  others 
to  find  Christ. 

“Now,  I  was  converted  while  a  minister  was 
praying  for  me  in  his  private  library;  would  I 
prescribe  the  same  circumstances  for  the  next 
inquirer?  Nay,  verily.  But  that  is  the  very 
mistake  so  often  made  by  good  Christians.  A 
respectable  number  believe  that  evangelical  sal¬ 
vation  comes  at  baptism;  another  large  number 
have  no  use  for  a  conversion  which  took  place 
anywhere  else  than  at  the  altar  or  'mourners’ 
bench7;  still  others  look  askance  at  the  revival. 
Cyprian,  and  many  other  ancient  Christians, 
found  peace  at  baptism,  which  led  to  an  undue 
emphasis  upon  that  rite.  I  was  once  administer- 


230  ADVENTURES  IN  EVANGELISM 

ing  the  Holy  Communion,  when  a  lady  became 
greatly  affected,  and  praised  God  with  fervor. 
I  mentioned  it  to  a  friend  of  hers  after  the 
service,  and  he  replied: 

"  'Yes,  Sister  Braswell  always  shouts  at  the 
Lord’s  Table,  because  she  was  converted  there.5 
She  had  as  good  a  right  to  demand  that  all  others 
shall  be  converted  at  Communion  as  Cyprian  had 
to  expect  that  all  others  shall  receive  the  change 
during  the  rite  of  baptism.’5 

"Tell  me  just  what  you  consider  conversion 
to  be.55 

"If  I  understand  the  subject,  conversion  is 
that  evangelical  experience  in  the  Christian  life 
where  the  individual  appropriates  the  merits  of 
the  sacrificial  death  of  Christ  to  his  own  indi¬ 
vidual  case.  This  supreme  event  may  occur  at 
any  place,  and  under  any  circumstances.  That 
it  frequently  occurs  during  baptism  or  at  the 
mourners’  bench  is  an  argument  in  favor  of  those 
means  for  this  end;  but  not  to  the  exclusion  of 
other  and  well-tested  means  of  grace.” 

"I  take  it,  then,  that  in  the  main,  you  are  mod¬ 
erately  well  pleased  with  the  book.” 

"Yes.  I  have  read  a  preface  somewhere,  in 
which  the  author  says  to  his  readers:  'I  like  this 
book  immensely  and  trust  that  you  may  have  the 
good  taste  to  like  it  also.5  I  could  not  have 
written  quite  those  words,  Ed,  had  I  written  the 


CONCLUSION 


231 


book,  but  in  the  main,  I  like  it.  Except  ‘Thou 
Art  the  Man5  and  ‘Here  I  Am,  Mother,’  all  of 
the  chapters  deal  with  events  in  my  life.  The 
things  you  have  recorded  are  the  things  I  have 
prayed,  agonized,  studied,  worked  for.  The 
sweetest  things  in  life  that  have  ever  come  to 
me  are  here  related.  Absolutely  nothing  else 
counted  for  me.  I  would,  at  any  time  in  my 
career,  go  through  any  hardship  to  lead  a  soul 
out  of  darkness  into  light.  And  still,  in  the 
seventy-fourth  year  of  my  body,  and  the  forty- 
ninth  year  of  my  redeemed  spirit,  I  would  go 
anywhere  and  do  anything  to  see  a  soul  saved. 
Maybe  the  book  will  go  on,  bringing  men  to 
Christ,  long  after  I  have  preached  my  last  ser¬ 
mon.  Let  us  pray  for  that,  Ed.” 


THE  END 


Seminary  Libraries 


2  01235  7788 


